Team Schiele

I love blogs

2010-01-24T11:59:00.000-08:00

I love blogs- I love writing this blog for our friends and family (teamschiele.blogspot.com for those of you following on facebook), I love keeping up with far away friends and family thorough their blogs, I love reading blogs dedicated to educating and documenting… something.

I have a rotating list of blogs that I read regularly dedicated to something that I am curious about, interested in, wanting to understand better. Many of them come and go- today’s favorite may hold no interest tomorrow. I may not have found tomorrow’s favorite. Here are some of my current favorites and why like them.

One Cheep Chick
Lesley Mitchell is a tribune money section writer who keeps this blog of deals and freebees. Of course I love saving money, there is never enough for everything I want, and it is fun to be able to afford things we wouldn’t otherwise. Last Tuesday we went to the spaghetti factory on the cheap thanks to her notice that they were offering 40% off menu favorites. It was a great date and so nice to get out.

Little House in the Suburbs
Tomato Lady and Ivory Soap (not their real names I think) have spent their lives doing all those urban homesteading activities that I spent my life avoiding- only to find that I love gardening, canning, and chickens. Their post on gourds was the deciding factor in the decision to try to grow them. They need a longer season then we have here, but I want to try them anyway.

Rambling Babushka
I would like this blog for nothing other than the name, but Ildie makes eating well look amazing. Her food photos and directions (too simple to be called recipes) make me want to eat better. I can’t tell you how often my efforts to eat better end at lunch when I can’t think of what to eat. She shows what she is really eating and makes it look so yummy. She also documents her workouts- yeah, go Ildie, not following you on that one sister.

Unclutterer: Daily tips on how to organize your home and office http://unclutterer.com/
My most honest resume would say organizer of people, time, space stuff, information. This collaborative effort follows the gospel of a place for everything and everything in its place. I learn new techniques and have fine tuned many ideas from the info found here. Every Wednesday they offer a gag- unitasker of the week. While these are meant to be funny, I find them poignant. My love of shinny junk is barely balanced by my need for neatness. Wednesday serves as a weekly reminder to think before deciding I ‘need’ something.

Growing Girls With Purpose – The Girl Revolution
This is one of my newer blogs. I recently found Tracee Sioux my roommate from my wild and crazy days. We had so much fun together, navigating the single world as young divorced and insane women. She has turned her always strong writing skills, and strong feminist ideals into a blog dedicated to raising girls into amazing women. She is quite an amazing woman herself and I love seeing her and her ideas all grown up and working in the world.

I have been looking for some good blogs on retirement saving/ investing. I understand the basics of stocks and bonds and know that we should be diversified, but how do you figure out where exactly to put your money? I find this subject quickly frustrating so would love to learn in small bites like you get on a blog. Any suggestions?

So what blogs do you follow? Do you find they add to your life or are just a distraction? Are they a good way to learn something new or just another outlet for our voyeuristic/exhibitionist tendency’s?

Healing

2010-01-17T21:52:00.000-08:00

Things you forget when you have been sick for a long time:

The fresh, live feeling of a clean house.
How much work it is to get the house realy clean
How nice it is to spend time with friends
How you look when you are polished, colored, moisturized and made up
The time it takes to do all those things you were dreaming about when you were too sick to do anything
What season/ month/ day it is (what happened to all the Christmas lights?)
That just because you feel ok does not mean you have the stanima of a healthy person
How good it feels to get out for a change of scenery
How much your husband sacrificed to take care of you
The joy of dancing

One kid, two kid, red fish blue fish....

2009-12-16T18:20:00.000-08:00

I was just wondering if I would ever ‘get the call’ from DCFS telling us that they had a child they would like to place in our home. This is not unusual, I think about it at least 20 times a day. So it is surprising that when I answered the phone and the woman on the other end said she was from DCFS my first thought was ‘oh no, what’s wrong’ and not ‘whoo hoo a kid for us.’

We have agreed to one child. She had two and wondered if we would take them. Of course I had to at least ask. The thought of kids in the house for Christmas, the fact that this is the first call after months on the list, and the fear that she would never call again was enough to risk the wrath of Brian. In the past he has all but lost his cool every time I bring up the subject.

No, there are not two little angels on their way to our home tonight, but we have agreed to talk about it. I think two would be easier, and it while it might be fun to grow up as an only, it would be too sad as an adult. He thinks two would be too much time, too many expenses, and while I assure him otherwise, I think he is worried that I will take after my mom and keep going.

So give us your honest thoughts on the subject- one kid or two? What’s best for the child(ren)? What’s best for the marriage? What are the pros? What are the cons?

Thanks for your help!

Vote For Me Please!

2009-12-14T16:52:00.000-08:00

During my recent unemployment I had a lot of time on my hands, and during that same period I made friends with a guy who does two blogs, on is called "The Fiberglass Manifesto" and the other "Fishy Kid".
Both are about fishing of course, but this post has something to do with the latter site.
As I mentioned I had a lot of time on my hands, which I filled with some stuff around the house of course, fishing and photography, but I also entered Fishy Kid's "Adult Coloring Contest", where I colored and submitted three pictures.
The creators of the site have decided to put the winners to a vote, so if you could please vote for me.
Use the following link: http://fishykid.org/contest-rules/vote-here
Brian Schiele
Thanks!
Brian

In case you haven't heard....

2009-11-15T12:30:00.000-08:00

I know many of our dear readers are also one or both of our "Face Book Friends", so the following maybe old news to you, but here goes....
I was offered a job!
Which I took of course, it's with the VA, where I have wanted to work since my experience on active duty with CBHCO.
I don't know a lot about the job at this time, but it basically involves helping veterans that are first entering the VA health system.
I start in a little less than a month, so I can finish up on a few things around the house and get in as much fishing as I can.
Being unemployed this past eight weeks or so hasn't been all that bad, I've done a few things around the house, and Mirinda and I have gotten a little closer too I think despite the extra stress.
I did a lot of fishing too, by my standards anyway. There were a couple of times for instance, where I went in the late afternoon/evening one day and went again the next day. I also got a lot of opportunities to make some photographs when I went fishing too. I'd say I added eight new photographs to the project I am working on. You can see it HERE if you like.

One of the afternoons I spent somewhere on the Middle Provo....(Yes I did catch one that day!)

Just me and my shadow.... ;-)

There were several days there where I didn't shave at all.

Anyway thanks for your support during this period Mirinda and I greatly appreciate it.
A HUGE thanks to Mirinda for putting up with me during this time too, as well as being there for me and with me during this period as well as the period before.

Here's to new opportunities!
SALUD!
Brian

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

2009-11-01T14:23:00.000-08:00

Today is All Saints Day, a celebration of all saints, both known and forgotten. It lands on the ancient Samhain celebration of the beginning of the dark time of the year. It is also the end of daylight savings.

I have been feeling the lack of sun for a few days now. The light which was perfect just a few weeks ago is suddenly not quite bright enough. It’s too cold to expose my arms to those week rays and let my skin drink up the vitamin D. My garden is all but gone to sleep and my fingernails hold no trace of growing soil. The dark time of year has begun, and it is time to remember those who have gone before.

They say Halloween is the day the division between this life and the next is thinnest. I look forward to this day as a time to remember those who have died, passing through the winter of this life into the eternal spring of the next life. But this year I am being reminded of life.
The last few days I have had several reminders that people are most important, and that I have neglected some of my most important people, including myself. As we celebrate the day of the dead, I am being reminded to live.

I apologize for not taking better care of myself. I would ask that you forgive me for not calling you, for not sending you a quick note. I am sorry that I was not there for you when you needed me. I promise I will work to be here. To be in the now. I will do this for you my friend, as well as for myself.

This year instead of celebrating the saints who have gone before, I will celebrate the potential in myself to bless the lives of those I love. I will celebrate the living, and life. I will dance with passion, and light a thousand candles against the darkness. I will live, to honor those who showed me the way.

Marriage sucks - Rebuttal

2009-10-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

You might think that that our marriage is a little rocky after reading Mirinda's last blog entry, but I am here to tell you that our marriage is the best it has ever been and is always getting better, simply because of one reason, because we work at being married.
And if you have been married for any more than five years or so, you know this and if you have been married longer than that, you defiantly know this and appreciate the work that you and your spouse put into your marriage.
I remember when Mirinda first told me she felt like this, I was a little taken back by it too, but when she explained things to me It made a little sense to me, but I accepted it, because the last thing she said to me at that point was that, "despite all the lousy stuff about me and our marriage, she loved me and accepted it and was willing to work on our marriage.

One of our favorite singer/song writers David Wilcox, put marriage best in his song "Good Together" on his CD "Live: Songs and Stories, when he was telling a story about a single friend who had had several failed relationships. His hapless friend said to Dave, that marriage sounds like a lot of work, to which Dave replied, "Yeah, it is, but it's good work, if you can "get it." I somehow think that Dave just didn't mean get it as in obtain it, I think he also meant to understand it in that marriage is a lot of work too. Which is that just how we see it, because we've got a good marriage and we understand that it take a lot of work to maintain our marriage.

For those of you who are married, I encourage you to thank your spouse for being married and tell them a couple of reasons why you love them and why you appreciate them. It will do you and your marriage good.

Thanks for loving me Mirinda! You are a great wife!
Brian
;-)

Marriage sucks

2009-10-04T18:33:00.000-07:00

Marriage sucks! I have always thought the only thing worse than being married, is not being married.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my husband and there is nothing that makes me happier than being a wife. But marriage is hard. It is compromise and cooperation and sacrificing for the greater good. Maybe I was single to long and had too many years when the best date was an evening alone.

My husband is making me crazy. He doesn’t know how to not be employed and I don’t know how to get anything done with him home. You would think with both of us at home we would be able to get twice as much done, but the opposite seems to be true. This is especially frustrating as I work from home and this is my busy time.

The fall conference is coming up and I have a million details to take care of, name tags, sponsors, and one last check with the speakers. Not to mention I have a kitchen full of tomatoes waiting to be canned. Of course there is always the usual vacuum, pick up, mop the floor.

Don’t get me wrong, it is so nice to share my morning coffee with my best friend. Not only is the conversation better then with the cats, but he knows just how I like my toes snuggled. But when snuggle time is over, he doesn’t know what to do with himself and I don’t know where to start.

I think that dating is a horrible way to choose a spouse. What does going to dinner and a movie, or bowling, or the opera have to do with being married? It is easy to find someone you want to have fun with, what is hard is finding someone you want to work with. Finding someone you want to go through the good times with is so much easier than finding someone you want to go through the bad times with. I once read that the decision to spend the rest of your life with someone should rest on one question- is this someone I want next to me when my mother dies? I don’t know if I agree with the specifics but the sentiment is right.

My sister will be getting married soon. Sometimes I get to know these things. After years as a single parent she is finally ready for the love of her life. I know that when the thrill of new love has past, and the arguments over toothpaste brands and hard or soft tacos have been settled, she will know what I do- that marriage sucks. And just like Brian and I, I hope they live happily, and unhappily, ever after. Because the only thing that sucks worse than being married, is not being married.

Opportunity?

2009-09-26T19:47:00.000-07:00

It’s supposed to freeze Tuesday or Wednesday so it’s time to bring in all the peppers and tomatoes and start putting the garden to bed.

I am busy filling the freezer with stuffed green peppers- my favorite way to preserve them, tomato basil pasta sauce- tastes like summer and must be made with fresh from the garden tomatoes and basil. Latter I will be making Verde and if I can find pine nuts for a decent price, pesto. I will bring the green tomatoes in and can them as they ripen.

I love canning and preserving our garden. I get to think about how good the food will taste in winter when I am hungry for the sun and miss being outside. I feel nurturing, taking care of my family. I feel connected to the generations of women who have put up and put by. And I love the secure feeling of knowing that whatever else happens, we have cans of tomatoes.

I am really clinging to that security part this weekend.

Brian is now a full time job hunter. For those of you who were betting on which would happen first- quit, get fired, find a new job- they asked him to leave Friday.

We are both feeling relieved, hopeful and a bit scared.

I am really proud of him, he has worked for 6 months at a job that made him miserable in so many ways and made the best of it. This job was bad fit from the beginning, but as it was allowing us to pay the mortgage on the Team Schiele World Headquarters, so he put up with all sorts of $%#! and stuck it out.

Things may be crazy between now and whenever it is that he finds a job, but we are in it together and grateful that we have options an opportunities. And we are grateful for those stuffed peppers in the freezer.

What was once white is now....

2009-09-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

If you've ever been to any of the two places we've owned, you'll know that Team Schiele, loves color.
So for the last little while I have been painting the front door to the Team Schiele World HQ.
As you may recall the front door was a plain white, really boring I know!
Well thanks the magic of two quarts of paint and a lot more elbow grease I am happy to announce that, that boring while door is now RED!
More specially, it's "quiet red".

The plain white door before:

The "quiet red" door now:

I also wanted to thank everyone that reads this for the birthday wishes. Thanks!
Brian

Happy Birthday Brian

2009-09-08T14:11:00.000-07:00

39 things I love about my husband on his 39th Birthday 9/9/09
1. Passion for life
2. Sparkly eyes
3. Great ‘eye’ for photos
4. They way he makes me giggle
5. Love of country
6. He is brave- he goes to a job that is not a good fit for him and makes the best of it.
7. Best barista ever
8. He always kisses my goodbye, even if I am not awake enough to remember it
9. The way he treats my mom
10. He can let me have my way and still be the boss
11. He says I love you in his sleep
12. He gets along with almost everyone
13. Pure laugh
14. He never forgets extra pickles on my cheeseburgers
15. Fun dance partner
16. Cutest grill sergeant
17. Best chili chef
18. He doesn’t do football
19. Fly’s the flag at half staff every time a soldier from Utah dies
20. Creative
21. Listens when I say “I was thinking…”
22. Thinks I’m sexy
23. Gets excited about chickens
24. Knows his way around the kitchen
25. If I forget to lock the door, he worries that someone will steal his wife
26. Better then Google
27. Loves to learn
28. Our hands fit
29. Holga Master
30. He doesn’t give up
31. Loves God
32. Cheesy humor
33. Very romantic
34. He’s fun
35. He married me
36. Great host
37. He is grateful for what he has
38. Quick to forgive
39. Willing to be the father of our child

Vegetarian dinners?

2009-08-25T18:05:00.000-07:00

I am looking for quick, easy and yummy vegetarian dinners. I have found that all my vegetarian recipes are either variations of beans and rice or pasta. We have not given up meat, we are still omnivores, but we are now participating in Meatless Mondays.

It recently came to my attention that Brian’s cholesterol is too high.

When I say it came to my attention, I mean that I spent an entire afternoon freaking out that his life insurance was going to cost more than mine, significantly more. Now I know I am not the picture of health, but I always thought Brian was. After all, he was a soldier and had to pass physicals and fitness tests for his ‘job.’ And now they were telling me that his risk of death was so high that we could only afford the ‘minimum’ life insurance. I was sure he was going to die any day and leave me and our as yet to be adopted child, homeless and penniless and living in pioneer park.

I decided that something had to be done. And not just talk about increasing the produce in our diets and decreasing the take out. It was time for a real change. I declared that we were going to start Meatless Mondays and Fish Fridays.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Meatless Mondays is a movement. Whoo Hoo we are part of a movement. There is a website and everything: http://www.meatlessmonday.com/ Cutting meat one day a week saves money, your health, and the environment.

One day a week is good for me. I have tried vegetarianism and found that I came to a better understanding of my body and how it works, and mine works best with some meat. But that was many many years ago, and I don’t think I was doing much cooking then.

So anyone have any good vegetarian recipes? If not it looks like an omelet for dinner this Monday.

P.S. we had our black beans in a rice and bean burrito this week. Yummy.

Doesn’t add up to a hill of beans

2009-08-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

One of our garden experiments this year has been dry or field beans. We tried a variety of kidney and a black bean. We tired just one square of each, that’s what you do with an experiment, start small and see how it goes. We planted with visions of homemade chili made with our very own beans.

As an experiment it was a great success. I harvested our beans yesterday. They were easy and grew well without much fuss. They dried nicely and are lovely if I do say so.

As a harvest, I have to say I am not sure if this was a grand idea. You can see how well we did. These are quart jars for scale. We may have just over a cup if we put them together.

I don’t know how much space we would have to dedicate to beans to get a real harvest, but at least a 4X4 box, maybe more.

We will have to think about this one.

Our corn is also ready to harvest! Unfortunately because we were not thinking when we planted it, it is all ready now. We didn’t like the frozen corn on the cob we tried last year so I will need to find a different preservation method. Any suggestions?

Good news!

2009-07-28T18:24:00.000-07:00

Today has been a really challenging day. We don’t have bad days at Team Schiele World Headquarters- ask Brian. But today came close. I couldn’t shake the blues- I buried myself in work, got a dash of endorphins with exercise, ate some good food with some great company, we even went to a book store. I just couldn’t find the sun today.

Until the mail came.

We are now officially licensed to foster a child! I have the certificate to prove it.

I Want Closure!

2009-07-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

I will never read another series until it is complete. Why- the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

I started reading this series in 1991 when the first book in the series found its way into my hands. I love it. For years I would watch the publisher’s website waiting for the next book to come out, only to buy it on opening day and devour it. I was in love with Perrin, the man with the soul of a wolf; with golden eyes, a strong arm, and a soft heart. Of course I loved the main character, Rand who was born to save the world. I loved the fantasy and adventure. I loved to read about the main characters and watch as they grew up.

I gave the book to friends and family and had so much fun discussing plot twists, and character development. At one time I got so frustrated with a plot twist that I threw the book at the wall, scream out loud, then ran to pick up the book and keep reading.

As time went on the books came out less regularly and were less satisfying. One of the main characters has been pregnant for the last three books. Finally, the author died of a rare blood cancer. Augh! Now how will I know how the world was saved? So may questions, with no one to answer them.

Luckily he left an outline of how the story is to end and the last 3 books are being written. The next should be out this fall sometime, perhaps just in time for me to decompress after the fall conference. There is even talk of the first book being made into a move.

But still, current projections have this series at 15 books over 20 years. That is a long time to be caught in a story.

At one time I didn’t want the story to end. Now I just want closure.

Happy Independence Day

2009-07-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

I love the 4th of July. We get to become fans of the constitution, freedom, and the armed forces on our face book pages. We gather with friends and family and eat chicken and corn and try to explain to the children what the words of the constitution mean. Flags wave and our inner pyromaniacs come out to play.

Last night we had a small group of family (only 20) to Team Schiele World Headquarters. It was a great time and if you would like some homemade root beer, bring over a pitcher. Brian was an amazing grill sergeant, but has decided d its time for a larger grill. The fireworks show lasted about 20 minutes longer then moms and dads wanted and about 20 minutes short of what the kids wanted. Thanks to some great neighbors for adding their cheers to ours.

We have had the Ohio sharp family here the last couple of days and I have loved it! It was so fun to play with baby Emma and see what great parents Mike and Amy are. We had a lot of fun feeding them and hope they were not too board with us old folk. That baby is so sweet and good natured! Even her cry is sweet. But of course I am a little biased.

It was this weekend that for me spring officially ended and summer began. It had nothing to do with the date on the calendar, but the state of the garden. We finished off the June bearing strawberries and the lettuce is trying to bolt. There are no more flowers on the peas, so what is on those vines is all we will have this year. The first zucchini and the first summer squash should be ready to eat in a few days and the tomatoes and corn are growing fast.

After all the family stuff we needed a date so today we went to the latest X Men offering at the dollar flick. It was a great time holding hands and eating popcorn in the dark. So if you could pick a ‘mutation’ or ‘super power’ what would it be? Brian wants to be the ability to fly, or be able to heal himself and others. I can’t figure out what I want. Any suggestions?

Foster care/Adoption update

2009-06-29T16:20:00.000-07:00

Our interview and inspection went well. HOWEVER- we are not finished.

We have 4 items on our new to-do list.

· Smoke Detector on the bedroom level – I swear we had one up there. I crossed it off the original list. Guess I was wrong. (Look Brian, in writing, me admitting to being wrong.)
· New fire extinguisher – as feared, our s is not the right rating.
· Get the cats Vaccinated- Never thought of that. Our poor boys have not seen a vet in an embarrassingly long time.
· Have my doctor call her- she has some questions – I will need to get to the doctor’s office to sign a release first. This is what I get for getting sick all the time.

This list seems very reasonable and short compared to what we started with.

Then this is what happens:
Our licensing specialist writes a report. The report is signed off by a supervisor. Our licensing specialist comes back to check off the above list and then sends everything to DCFS with a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

If we get thumbs down, we will receive a letter with an explanation. We can appeal or make changes as needed (or willing.)

If we get thumbs up, we will be contacted by a case worker who will need to come and visit with both of us for another long interview. This caseworker will be responsible for matching us with a child and be our advocate in the process. A different case worker is responsible for being an advocate for the child.

Once we have met with our advocate, we wait for a placement.

*Sigh*

Tell me a story

2009-06-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

I have almost given up reading fiction. For one thing there is almost always something I am curious about. I usually have at least one nonfiction book by my bed. Whether its gardening, health care, self improvement, there is something I want to know more about.

Also, I have too many magazine subscriptions. I can’t read them all, but can’t decide which to get rid of. They clutter my house in various stages of consumption. I have Elle Décor, Entrepreneur and Good Housekeeping in one bathroom, Good Housekeeping and Bette r Homes and Gardens in the other bathroom, Organic gardening and another Elle Décor by the bed, Organic Gardening and Mother Earth News in the kitchen, and a stack of magazines I haven’t started in the living room. This stack in the living room includes a few months of Planning Magazine that I know I will not read but can’t quite get rid of.

So it’s not that I am not reading. Right now I am fascinated with The End of Overeating by David Kessler. I ordered it the first day it came out after hearing 2 interviews with the author. When I finish I will happily share as everyone should read this book. It is a scientific exploration of the way sugar fat and salt affects the brain. Did you know that foods high in sugar fat and salt actually alter your brain chemistry? This book explains my cheeseburger cravings.

But I am left hungry for a good story. Fiction was my drug of choice for most of my life. It provided an escape from whatever, heartache, problems, confusion, or boredom I was suffering. If the book is well written it is a bonus, but it had to have a good enough story to keep my brain focused. And now I find fiction is failing me. It is becoming rarer that I really enjoy a book, even a ‘good’ book. I read two books on my last vacation and while they were both well written, interesting stories, I didn’t love them. The stories were not enough to hold me. They were both more about the emotional exploration of the characters then about the story.

I spent hours at Barnes and Noble yesterday looking for something to read. I finally did pick up something from the discount table on my way to the cash register. (I was buying something for work) I bought Ret Butlers People, the companion to Gone with the Wind, one of the first books that changed me. 0ther books I looked at where too short, too much sap and not enough substance, too dark, or just plain not relatable.

So now I am left to wonder- is it just me? Am I getting old and jaded? Did my earlier reading frenzies burn out the love? Do I watch too many movies?

Or is the art of the story being lost?

What is the last book that captured your imagination?

Five years and 51 weeks ago....

2009-06-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe sometimes, but Mirinda and I are coming up on our sixth wedding anniversary, and come the end of the year we will have been together for nine years.
We've had are ups and downs over those years, but this past couple of years our marriage has really gotten stronger and stronger and I want to thank Mirinda for that.
I know that there is nothing that can happen that could happen to us, that we won't be able to get through together.
We are a great team, and are only getting better with each passing day, week, month, year and so on.
Thanks for being my wife, my lover, my friend, partner and team mate Mirinda!
Here's to the next anniversary and beyond!
You I LOVE!!
;-)

Home Visit, 1 Month Away

2009-05-31T21:54:00.000-07:00

We are now down to two items on our to-do list:
Get life insurance – in process
Get new fire extinguisher (We are waiting on this one as we have one that we hope meets their requirement. The licensing specialist will let us know when she visits. )

The possibility of a child in our home is becoming more of a reality. We are now making plans for mid July and later and have to take into account that we may be a threesome at that time. For example, we went to a movie tonight and saw an ad for the new Harry Potter movie; we could have a little girl in our home by the time it comes out. We were talking about the Sharp Family Camp Out and how sad it will be to not have Ian there, and realized we may have a small one to keep out of the fire pit.

It is exciting and overwhelming. I am sure many of our questions are the same as any parent- will we be good parents, can we give a child what she will need, how will it change our relationship with each other, what will she like to do? But we are also afraid of the process. How many placements will we go through before we find ‘our’ child?

I am already feeling anxiety about cleaning the house for the home visit.
For those of you who are actually following this bizarre journey, we got a dog play pen and put it around the stove. I think it doesn’t look too bad, it cost under $100 (one of the cheapest options) and once it is no longer necessary to protect children, we can use it for chickens. (Cross your fingers, the city council is taking general comment)

Here it is.

Spring Garden Report

2009-05-17T15:55:00.000-07:00

We have our garden planted- if you don’t have yours in, do it soon. It’s finally time for even the tomatoes.

We went to the Wasatch Community Garden Plant sell and followed it up with the Living Green festival and came home with all our plants. One day I will try peppers and tomatoes from seed, but I am not ready for that yet. Especially considering how easy and fun it is to buy heirloom varieties at the local plant sales. I ran into three people I know and met some interesting others. We waited in line with one of the new owners of Calcium Springs Farm. Check them out here http://calciumspringsfarm.com/default.aspx They are one of the newest CSA’s in the area, located in Parleys Canyon.

Unfortunately we lost one already- we forgot to put the bird netting up and they got the fish pepper. It was just small enough to be tempting, but apparently they didn’t like it as they spit it back out. We have never tried fish peppers- which are white and on the hot side when fully grown. We were planning to try a white version of our wedding day love salsa. We picked up a white tomato and with some tomatillos- but oh well, maybe next year. Or maybe if you get some nice fish peppers from your garden you will share? They are an heirloom variety and you can’t expect to find them at wall mart. We did try replanting the poor thing but it was too late.

One of our ‘experiments’ this year is dry beans. We are trying black beans and a mottled red that is like a pinto. The red- Vermont cranberry- sprouted quickly enough so we are feeling hopeful.

We plan to expand the garden again this year with a long box, about 4’X 12’ but we are not planning to have that one ready to plant for this season. I also want to make a compost box.

Our to do list for licensing is getting shorter:
1. Screen Wood Stove
a. Figure out how to screen wood stove affordably
2. Medication and Chemicals
a. Install magnet locks
3. Verification of Health, life and Auto insurance
a. Figure out how to verify Brian’s health insurance (in process)
b. Get life insurance (in process)
4. Fire extinguisher?

The biggest problem now is screening the wood stove. I have come up with three options, one is ugly, one is expensive and one is difficult. Wish us luck!

Can you survive the flue?

2009-05-02T09:42:00.000-07:00

It looks like any true concern about the new swine flu can be shelved till fall. But you can still take this opportunity to check your preparedness preperations. Are you ready for a viral outbreak?

While I don’t claim to be an expert, I do believe I know a few things about dealing with viral outbreaks. I love zombie movies and I listen to Coast to Coast during my frequent nights of insomnia. Don’t laugh; you can learn a lot form crazies and science fiction.

In a true epidemic you need to be prepared to quarantine yourself in your home for 30 to 60 days. They say that even with a really bad outbreak you can expect your utilities to keep running for at least 30 days. So that makes the job of being prepared a lot easier.

The first thing you need is food. We have pretty good food storage. Not perfect, but we won’t run out of coffee and cereal. Our meals may get a bit unusual towards the end, but we should be able to eat. I did pick up some powdered milk this week. It only lasts a year and we don’t use it so I don’t usually have it. But I thought about eating all that cereal without milk and added it to my grocery list this week.

In this emergency you don’t need to worry about water, but you may want to make sure you have a water purifier anyway. While water should be available, if there is a problem it may take a long time to get fixed. No need to take any chances. We don’t have a water purifier but we do have bleach and know how to boil water.

The next thing you need to consider is entertainment. Don’t underestimate the destructive power of boredom. The last thing you want is a familial reenactment of the mutiny on the bounty. It is important to your immune system to keep your spirits up. It has been shown that fear and worry depress your immune system. As long as the Internet keeps running, I think we will be OK. We have books, games, movies etc. to keep us going. I think a new Wee game would be nice, but we could survive 60 days locked up together without it.

Once you determine that you can survive a quarantine you need to consider preparedness for the actual illness. I put this second on my list because there is less you can do. Unless you can score some Tamiflu the only thing you can really do is build your immune system. You already know how to do that, although few of us really do. Get enough sleep, eat at least 5 servings of produce every day, keep your stress levels manageable, and get regular exercise. By the way, going back to your quarantine plan, can you continue to eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies, and exercise while quarantined? There is some question as to how well and how long those masks you see in the newspaper photos work. If you are going to try them, stock up this summer, while they are available and affordable.

If you do get sick there is even less you can do. First and most important- don’t go to a hospital or clinic unless it is life and death. Your family doctor would be the best option for antiviral medicine, if it is available, if it is effective against whatever virus you are dealing with. A good first aid kit that includes your favorite cold medicine will help. This new swine flu affects the upper respiratory system so a humidifier will help as well. Again keeping your spirits up is important. Don’t underestimate the power of the will to live.

You can’t be prepared for every emergency, but every day the news offers us scenarios to consider. How prepared are you? Could you survive the latest threat? How would you handle what is happening over there? If you are prepared, you don’t need to fear.

There is good news and bad news in the Team Schiele Parenting category.

2009-04-30T08:48:00.000-07:00

The bad news is that Ian does not want to come this summer. He is 15, has a girl friend and wants to get a job. He has decided to spend a few weeks with his Mothers parents (other grandparents) and then get a job. (To support his new girl friend habit?)

The good news is we have an appointment for licensing on June 29th. We are STILL not ready, but decided to set an appointment and hope that the deadline gives us the impetus to get it all done. This means that we can expect a placement between Mid July and Mid January.

Here is what we still need to complete:

Screen Wood Stove
a. Figure out how to screen wood stove affordably
Outlet covers and stair gates
a. Find cheep/free stair gates (need 2)
Medication and Chemicals
a. Install new locking door knobs
b. Buy magnet locks
c. Install magnet locks
Verification of Health, life and Auto insurance
a. Copy my insurance card
b. Figure out how to verify Brian’s health insurance
c. Copy auto insurance policy
d. Get life insurance
Buy new fire extinguisher (ours is not big enough for code)

Thanks to Manda, I may have number 2 complete. The biggest problem is with number 4. Although Brian has a job, we are hoping it is temporary. He really does not like his job and it doesn’t pay what we want. We have insurance until July from the Army, and are hoping to wait for “the real job” to get new insurance. Also, I don’t have life insurance so I need to get some.

In other news- we are getting central air! Yeah! This will change my life. No more planning my day around the heat in the summer. I had over 8 estimates (a bit of overkill, but I am like that) and I feel like I was able to make an educated decision.

Also my computer crashed last week and I had to get a new one- but I am working on blocking out that memory. It was a very bad week. This week has been better.

Up in our Grill

2009-04-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

Conversations we had many times in Cancun:
Where you from?
Utah
Blank stare
Salt Lake?
Oh yes, I love your Jazz!
Insert pithy comment about music from Brian
Blank Stare

Whats your name?
Mirinda
MirAAAnda?
No, Mirinda, like the soda
Oh yes, Mirrrinda, very nice.

You buy?
NO
How much you pay? Give me fair price?
X US
No, Seniority, this hand made! Worth XXX pasos.
How much US?
You give me fair price, I sell cheep.
X US
But Hand Made!

No gracias, no buy.

So I always thought it was so cute that every spring the Denos family got a bird’s nest in there barbeque. The kids got to see the eggs and the baby birds. How sweet! Not sweet at all I think now.

The problem is either I am cheep or they just don’t make good grill covers. It seems like every 9-15 months we have to buy a new cover for our barbeque grill. When the last one died I swore we would not just go to the orange box or the blue box and get another one that would fall apart. I decided I would find a good one that would last or make one myself. Like many of my good intentions, it ended up on the project list and I never got around to it.

A few days ago, we went to grill some burgers and found the beginnings of nest in the grill. Not seeing the actual birds or any eggs, we cleaned it out and made dinner. Two days latter the nest was back, bigger then before!

We went to the blue box and I made Brian pick out the “BEST” cover he could find. We will see if it lasts longer than a year.

First Aid Kit contents for Licensing:
Quick reference first aid manual
Surgical Soap
Sterile Guaze pads
Scissors
Tweezers
Assorted band aids
Flexible Gauze Bandages
Cotton
Tongue blades
Cotton swabs
Bandage tape
Thermometer
Rubber gloves
Ace bandage
Alcohol wipes
Safety pins.

I heard about this great place that sells cheep medical supplies. Not wanting to spend more then I needed on the above items not already in the house, I went to find it. I mean really, if any of you actually have ALL those items on hand, at this moment, I will make you a pie.
Of course I got lost and ended up coming across an accident. A motorcycle, a car and a van. The police had yet to arrive and the motercyler was lying in the road with his bike just off him yelling into a cell phone that he didn’t know the address, and no, he couldn’t look around. There were a few pg13 words added. The van driver was sobbing, and the car driver was directing traffic away from the guy in the road. Just as I was trying to figure out what to do the police showed up and took over so I left- to get my first aid supplies. Ironic.

But it got me thinking about not living my life by accident, living more intentionally. It is so hard for me to live in the moment. To live each hour on purpose. I am not sure how to change that. I often find myself lying in the middle of the proverbial road, on my back yelling that I don’t know where I am. First aid supplies for life are a bit more difficult to purchase.

Our little trip to Cancun......

2009-04-02T14:18:00.000-07:00

It's hard to really come up with the words to say about our little trip to Cancun last week, so you'll see a lot of pictures. Needless to say, we had a great time doing a whole lot of nothing, a little bit of this and that and a good amount of stuff that only Mirinda and I will know about... ;-) ;-)

The sun rising just above the Wasatch mountains, a great way to start out a trip by watching the sun rise with the one you love. I am more of a morning person and Mirinda isn't, so being able to enjoy this with her was special for me.

It's been a long winter here in Utah, so being out in the sun and nice weather sure put smiles on our faces easily.

One of the yummiest things we did was eat! The resort we stayed in had a gourmet restaurant, which we ate at twice, and really enjoyed it. I think each meal consisted of four or five courses depending on what you got.

This is the soup course of my meal, it was called a "Trilogy of Soups". Each was served in tiny glasses or cups. I don't remember much about them, but the first one on the right was served in a shot glass, and shot in the name. The second soup was a cold soup, and was a fruity soup with watermelon. The last soup was served in an espresso cup, and probably had some a little espresso in it too.
This was one of the soups Mirinda had one night, I don't remember what they called it, but there was a reason it was served in a champagne glass, it had something to do with what they called it, but it was really just a tortilla soup. It was yummy!

The next menu item was from the "hot starter" part of the meal, which was the last course before the entree. They called this a "seafood lasagna", the pictures don't do this any justice but it really looked like lasagna, and it was also delicious.

Another view of the "seafood lasagna"

This was one of the appetizers I had, it's Beef Carpaccio, the picture doesn't do it any justice, but it was tasty too! It's basically raw thin beef tenderloin, with some greens of some kind, with a splash or two of a vinaigrette and some Parmesan cheese.

One one of the nights we ate there, we both were in the mood for some meat, some each had the rib eye steak; it was such a huge slab we should have just ordered one and shared it.

And of course no meal would be complete without desert and coffee, this was a yummy chocolate cake. I love the artsy touches they put on each meal, it's really cool!

But of course Cancun wasn't all about food and drink, it was about relaxing and pampering ourselves. So for the cost of about two hours of time we got a couples massage and pedicures.

How could you not relax with a view like this...

Our cute toes after our pedicures! Which by the way is the only picture we have of us together on the whole trip!

The view from the terrace around the lobby....

A big reason I wanted to go to the part of Cancun that we went to was because I wanted to go fishing, so I booked a day of fishing trough Cancun Fly Fishing Dot Net. I was hoping to catch a tarpon, but they are easily spooked and are hard to land. I had a couple on the line, but I wasn't able to set the hook quick enough. I fished with a fly rod and a spinning rod, because it was very windy that day.

The beach where I started from:

The boat I was on for the day:

And me and the barracuda I caught that day...

The novice angler that I am, I am elated that I caught something; it was late in the day and the conditions were challenging to say the least, but man was it cool!
I was about an hour outside of Cancun in a rather remote part of the area, and saw some amazing wildlife that I had never seen before. I saw a number of saltwater crocodiles and even an eagle ray.

We did our part to stimulate the economy of Cancun too, we even stopped at the local Wal-Mart of all places because it was recommended to us by several locals.
One of the more interesting things we saw at the Wal-Mart was something called "acid cream", we never figured out what it was, but we thought it was sour cream, because we were in the dairy section.
Another interesting translation we thought was funny was "Salsa Inglaterra" which translates to English sauce, which we know as Worchire sauce.

We found out that Mirinda and I have something in common with Cancun, in that we were all "established" in the same year.

All in all it was a great trip, Mirinda and I had a wonderful, I would have never guessed 21 years ago when I first got into the military that I'd go on such a wonderful trip and have such a wonderful time with such a wonderful woman.

Lucky Friday 13th

2009-03-14T09:11:00.000-07:00

I am happy to report that my unemployment status will be short lived!
On Friday I was offered a job with the Social Security Administration working as either a claims representative or a service representative.
I'll start in a month or so, because we have to officially celebrate the end of my time with the National Guard, with a few days in Cancun.
So maybe 13 is my lucky number now!
Oh yeah!
Brian

Sunshine and blue skys

2009-03-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

Spring is coming and I am coming out of hibernation. This year the winter blues have hit me hard. I knew I was in trouble when my body started wanting nothing but sleep and carbs in September.

I always fight the winter blues a little, but this winter was a doozy. For those of you who don’t know, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is not depression, but can be very depressing and often leads to some serious blues. It starts as a physical thing, your body just craves hibernation, and you get tired, crave fats and carbs, and just don’t have the energy you normally do. The physical leads to mental- it takes so much to push yourself through the day that you become apathetic. The mental and the physical eventually lead to emotional.

I think one of the things that took this winter from a 2 bad to an 8 bad is the air. I don’t care where you stand on global warming, climate change etc, the air is bad in the winter and getting worse! Our population is too large to sustain our current lifestyle with our current technology. This is not a matter of politics; this is a matter of health and quality of life. My health and my life.

But now the sun is brighter and the cotton is being flushed from my head by the sight of green growing things. Yeah for spring!

While I was hibernating, I found a couple of cool things.

You can make your own family crest! This is cool for yourself, your family, or any group with whom you share values and goals. Brian and I had a great time making ours.

Go Here http://www.makeyourcoatofarms.com/ to try it yourself.

If you have not found your way to the One Cheep Chick blog, have some fun and check it out! http://blogs.sltrib.com/cheap/ This blog is full of freebies, money saving tips and other financial goodies.

At half staff...

2009-03-04T20:11:00.001-08:00

The Flag at the Team Schiele World Headquarters hung at half staff today in honor of 31 year old Michael Alleman who was buried today.
Michael was the 31st Soldier from Utah, that has been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.
I didn't know Michael Alleman, but like me he was a Soldier and was from Utah, which was all I needed to know.
I pray that I never have to lower The Flag to half staff for another Utah service member, I also pray for his wife, his two sons, the rest of his family and for young lives that he touched in his life before he became a Soldier. Before enlisting in the Army, Michael Alleman was a fifth grade teacher in the Logan area.
I also pray for the 4865 other families whose loved one has been killed, the thousands of service members who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as for the thousands of service members who have been injured and for the thousands of others who have been there and are some how not the same.

Get Involved!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-02-23T18:31:00.000-08:00

Beyond being a Soldier and voting, I have never really thought much about being involved in the political process until now. I think what it is, is that now that I am no longer a Soldier I feel I need to find another way to be involved in democracy.
So I think that the fact that HB 187 came along at the end of my military experience is quite the coincidence, because I it is something I have become involved in.

HB 187 - Recreational Use of Public Waters, would effectively shut down all access or severely limit recreational use of Utah's beautiful rivers and streams, which includes fishing and boating.
In the past two weeks or so, I have written letters to several of Utah's newspaper's, so far two have been published, written all of my area's senators and many others and have even attended the committee meeting that bill is part of.

As I see it, if this bill is passed in the current form it could have a tremendous impact on Utah's economy. I feel that if HB 187 is passed it could have a severe impact on Utah's fishing shops, boating industry as well as tourism, which brings in millions of dollars into Utah's economy.

Here's my letter that was published in the Salt Lake Tribune on 15 February 2009:

More than a year ago I began fly fishing in northern Utah, and I have fallen in love with fishing in the streams and rivers along the Wasatch Front. I picked up the sport because I thought it could be a lifelong pursuit. With House Bill 187, my fishing experience could be short-lived ("Access to streams, riverbeds threatened." Tribune , Feb. 12).

As I read it, HB187 prohibits fishing from most public rivers and streams. This bill is a hasty reaction to the Utah Supreme Court decision, Conatser v. Johnson in 2008, which allows the public the right to touch the privately owned streambeds below the public waters.

This bill could have serious implications for the businesses that support angling. Fly-fishing shops, for example, would suffer if public use of Utah's streams is prohibited. Additionally, this bill would decrease the number of fishing licenses purchased in the state, which in 2008 brought in some $10 million.

I beseech our legislators to vote against HB187. It prohibits people from enjoying the austere wilderness that draws people to the region

Tomorrow, 24 February 2009m HB 187 will go before the Utah State senate to be voted on.

So I urge you to find a way to get involved in the political process and democracy beyond voting, it's your right but it's also a privilege that few other countries have. So get out there and be heard!

This Old Uniform...

2009-02-15T11:40:00.000-08:00

I have worn this particular uniform for about two years now, and have worn the uniform of the United States military for more than 20 years now, but I don't have to wear it anymore, because I am no longer a Soldier. In many ways deciding to leave the military was an easy one, but considering how things are on the economic front it wasn't so easy, but it the right choice for me. I have always loved wearing this uniform of the United States military, I always felt really good about myself when I put it on, because there is so much meaning to it. From the rank, to the unit patch, to the flag and the combat patch, for those who have been to combat and a few other things as well that I never was awarded.
It was also great not having to actually have to think about what I'd have to wear, which was the case for the last seven year anyway. I also never had to buy a uniform either!
The first uniform I wore, was the "camo one", the "Battle Dress Uniform" or BDU. When I first went to basic training, the Air Force was transitioning to the BDU and I continued wearing the BDU for the next 15 years or so later, the Army transitioned to the ACU or the "Army Combat Uniform". In between all of this though there was the "DCU" or "Desert Combat Uniform", that was first worn in Desert Storm and was worn again when troops first went over to Iraq in back in 2003. I never got the opportunity to wear that uniform.
I am not quite sure what I'll do with my uniforms now, I have this one and another ACU, as well as the class B and class A uniforms, the more office looking, dressy uniform with all of the fancy and color ribbons and badges on it. I also have a few BDU's too, I never quite knew what to do with them when I first got my ACU's.

As a way to celebrate Mirinda bought me a pen, I like pens, I guess you could say I REALLY like pens, the trouble is that some of the pens I like aren't exactly cheap.
This one is the coolest pen I have even seen.
Another cool thing is that it was made by a 13 year old kid. Check out his other pens as his site, Pens By Daniel.
Thanks again for the pen Mirinda! And thanks for being a part of the last eight years!
She also sent me a a "fruit bouquet" from Fruit Flowers, to work. The one she got me was appropriately named, "Berry Patriotic". As you can imagine it has lots of strawberries, some of which were chocolate covered. (YUMMY!!) The container it came in was red, white an blue and had star shaped pineapple pieces and and grapes and marshmellows too.
LOVE YOU!!

We got "Facebook"! How about you? ;-)

2009-01-30T18:27:00.000-08:00

We both joined Facebook recently, I joined in an effort to network for a new job and Mirinda did mostly did after she saw all of the old friends I was reconnecting with.
I have been doing my best to network on Facebook, but it hasn't gone too well.
It's a really cool networking site, I have reconnected with a lot old acquaintances and even some family, I have also made some new friends and as well as keep up with current friends.
I was surprised to find as many people as I have on Facebook, there are a lot of people I have met on other forums that I am also friends with on Facebook now.
There's a lot on Facebook, so much in fact that you could waste a lot of time on it, there are games, groups of many kinds to name a few things. You can also post pics and comment on them too. One of the funniest things I like doing is making witty status updates. The default on it is "Brian is", but you an change the verb, it's really corny sometimes, writing in the third person, but that's where the fun can be had.
Some of my recent status updates have been, "Brian has an interview tomorrow! YES!"
"Brian is ready to begin a new chapter in his life. Who or where will it be with?", " Brian is fishing today! Salmo trutta watch out", Edit
Brian is stimulated by stimulators..... As in flies for fishing." and "Brian is fiddling with his website, while speaking in the third person."
Some people make minute by minute status changes, but I think that's too much, I usually make a few a week, Mirinda does a little less.

So if you are on Facebook, look us up! We'll be your friend... ;-)

This old mug...

2009-01-18T12:01:00.000-08:00

I have had this coffee mug for eight years or so now, I got it sometime just after I started working full time with the Guard. For the most part it has been back and forth to work with me over the span of those eight years. I drank the hot sweet coffee from it on my early morning drive to work; pouring coffee into it, along with the milk and sugar is usually the last thing I do before I head out the door.
When I am in the truck or the car, I put it right in the center console with the handle turned to the right, so I can easily grab it and take a long slow drink.
Over the many trips to work I have drank from it thousands of times, and several gallons of coffee in it, I usually listen to KUER FM 90 (the local NPR affiliate) and have heard many wonderful news stories as I driven to work. I can't begin to remember how many stories I have heard that involved Soldiers. Soldiers leaving their families, Soldiers preparing to go to war, Soldiers at war, Soldiers on leave from war, Soldiers who have been injured, families dealing with things back home while their Soldier is at war. There have been other stories of course, but it those stories that I will remember the most.
I am in my last days of being a Soldier, and in the last days of working at the job I had before I was mobilized. I have only been there a few weeks now and as you probably know will only be there for a few more. I am grateful that I have something to come back, even it if is only for a very brief time, at least I have a job, even though I wish was at a new job, but that will happen soon though!
On my commute to my new job, I won't be using this old mug anymore; it will be time for a new one, just like it's time for a new job for me.
Mirinda got me a new one, the one hiding behind this old mug, but I want to wait until to use it for that first commute to that new job...

Cool Stuff

2009-01-11T14:58:00.000-08:00

5 weeks and counting- that is 5 weeks that Brian will be employed with no sign of a job thereafter. I am going back and forth between peace and panic. Mostly I am just trying to think carefully about every dollar we spend. No we don’t need to get the windshield fixed. Yes we do need to go out to dinner this weekend. Yup, priorities are in place.

So I have found some cool ways to save/spend money and I wanted to pass them along

· Free seeds! On December 31st the Peoples Market is sponsoring a seed swap. These are not commercially produced seeds and many are heirloom varieties. 5:00 p.m. at Sorensen Unity Center 1307 South 900 West. You don’t need to bring seeds to leave with seeds.
· Cheep dinner! The Old Spaghetti Factory is turning 40. The next three Monday and Tuesdays they are offering 40% off. This makes my favorite half mizithra and half meet sauce dinner only $5.99 and that includes bread, salad, iced tea, and spumoni. Yummy! http://www.osf.com/menu/annv-40Off-menu.pdf
· Free Warm. I have to thank Marnie for this one. We just had insulation installed in the crawl space of our previously completely un-insulated 1962 home. What a huge difference. You can go to the kitchen in the morning without slippers! Just call Jake Warner at 808-3270. It is a win-win as the rebate from the gas company covers the cost for the company, plus a little, and the company gets to keep their guys busy.
· Free stuff. Reuse-reduce-recycle or give it to someone who can. Both Craig’s List http://saltlakecity.craigslist.org/zip/ and KSL Classifieds http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=231&cat=272 offer a place to pick up stuff for free. It is hit and miss and you have to be fast to get the good stuff, but I have found lots of things I want. Landscape rocks, firewood, canning jars, there was a picnic table we missed out on once. Just ignore the sob stories. At least half of them are fake.

Let me know if you have something to add to my list.

Happy 2009

2009-01-04T12:07:00.000-08:00

This year I resolve to not make any resolutions. My plate is full, not overflowing, but filled with things I want on it. Carefully chosen items from the buffet available in this amazing time and place. I know from experience, that as with an actual buffet, my tendency is to overfill my plate, and then I get sick. I want to take on too much and overstuff my life. Experience has taught me that when I overstuff, my head and heart explode and then I don’t enjoy anything. Ok, so it took me several explosions to learn this, but I hope that finally I have the lesson down.

There are lots of things I would like to add, but they will have to wait. For now I will enjoy my marriage, my church, my friends, my family, my job, my home, my garden, the adoption process, the fight for chickens in my city, etc. etc. etc.

2008 had its ups and downs.

The best:
1. The process of deciding to add to our family
2. Our 24th of July party
3. Brian’s last year on active duty
4. Our garden
5. The election

The worst:
1. The process of deciding to add to our family
2. Having our house broken into and loosing the sense of security in our sanctuary.
3. Another year living with war (such a miserable dinner companion)
4. The election

May 2009 be more joyful, peaceful, and loving for all of us.

A little camp for Christmas.....

2008-12-28T15:51:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I like a little camp every now and again, and some of the campiest things I like are movies. I mean there's something funny about a movie or piece of art or whatever, that is just so over the top, artificial and tasteless that I find funny. Which was the case of a movie we saw on TV the day after Christmas, Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
It's one of those movies that I am sure the actors in it probably don't list on the resumes, even though you'll see it listed on IMDB.
Although there was one actor I am sure most of you will recognize, Pia Zador, who had a small part as the girl Martian "Girmar", get it? Girl Martian? Other campy Martian names were, Bomar, a male Martian, Dropo, Kimar, Rigna and Hargo.
The costumes in it were hilarious too, I can only imagine that the budget it was was small to say the least. For example, the Martians had what looked like football helmets, from the 60's, on their heads, that didn't have the face guards. Coming out their head's was a piece of flexible copper tubing, that went from one side to the other. The Martians as you can imagine had green faces, which as the movie went on, would less and less green and would show more of the actor's normal flesh color. I am guessing that the movie was shot in one day becasue of this.
Other noteable campy items, includ the descriptive markings and sayings on the Martian space ship, one said "Radar Box" on the radar panel.
The opening song was also very campy, and I am talking 1964 camp for that matter, which was when the movie was released.
Even the plot is campy! The children of Mars are sad and want things like we do here on Earth, they are able to watch television from Earth, so the chief Martian, Kimar devises a plan to kidnap the Santa Claus.
HERE is a listng of what appears to be the entire movie chapter by chapter, all 21 of them.
At the very least check out the link below, it's the opening..
S-A-N-T-Y C-L-A-U-S!

Commencement

2008-12-18T21:29:00.000-08:00

Tonight we graduated from the foster care classes and now have only “Packet B” before we can have our home study and be licensed to adopt.

What a rollercoaster this class has been as it prepares us for the real ride we are about to begin. My thoughts and feeling have completely changed over the 32 hours. If I can sum it up in one sentence, there are a lot of kids out there that need to be loved back to happily ever after.

I am no longer resentful of the piles of paperwork, the hours of classes, and the personal examination. If the hoops we have to jump through prevent one kid from being taken from a bad situation to another bad situation it is worth it.

I also feel that if the first child that comes to our home, does not end up being our daughter that I will just be honored for the opportunity to love her and help bring about what is best for her.
I went into this wanting. Wanting to do whatever ridiculous dance I had to do to get my daughter. I just wanted my kid. I was hungry to be a parent.

Now I just feel so full of love and hope for not only the children that need foster and adoptive parents, but for their parents.

Before I felt nothing but negativity, contempt and hatred, for anyone who would dare harm a child, but especially someone who could hurt, or allow to be hurt, their own flesh. Now I have a greater sympathy for those that have their child removed from them. Before the classes I felt nothing but heroism for the opportunity to save a child. Now I feel so sad for the loss the child will suffer at being torn from the only parent they know, no matter what a monster that parent may be.

I am sure this peace will not last. I know I will be annoyed as I learn to live with locks on cupboards and doors. I know I will be impatient as the process continues. I know I will be angry as I learn what someone has done to a child I love. But I am so grateful for this deep, emotional, understanding. I am grateful for this education.

It really is coming to an end...

2008-12-14T11:50:00.000-08:00

I was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, just as I thought I would be the other day, how it happened caught me off guard a little bit though. As you may know I am on my final leave from my mobilization, which means I don't have to wear the uniform or shave for that matter. I needed to see the doctor at work, because I needed a form signed by a doctor for the foster care licensing packet so I went in to work. I hadn't shaved and if you have seen me lately you'll know that I am growing a goatee for a bit, and the shirt I was wearing wasn't the cleanest shirt in the world. When I got there it about for the weekly staff brief, which I knew about obviously, but wasn't expecting to stay for, until the first sergeant saw me. He asked me if I could stay for the briefing, because he had an award for me, I kind of had an idea what it was when he pulled out all of the boxes and envelopes from his desk. I was more expecting to receive the Meritorious Service Medal, from what will be my Guard unit and not from this unit, but I think that getting it from this unit makes it more special. Even though I have a short commitment remaining to the Guard, getting this medal really leads to me to believe that my commitment to the military will be coming to an end after all, which is what I want.

The citation reads:
For exceptional meritorious service to the Utah National Guard. You have served faithfully in many positions of great responsibility ad have earned the trust and respect of those whom you served. Your tenure as a mentor, leader and friend of the Guard is seen in the many Soldiers who emulate your leadership qualities. You are a professional who continually sets and enforces high standards. Your actions and professionalism are in keeping with the finest traditions of the military service.

WOW huh!?
If you look at the site for the Meritorious Service Medal, you'll see a small list of some well known recipiants, I know there are many, many more fine men and women who have also been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, it's really a honor to been awarded it and have served our great contry for all these years.

In addition the Meritorious Service Medal, there were a few other documents and what not, but there was one that was equally as important and that was the certificate of appreciation for Mirinda. It's often been said that the second hardest job in the military is that of the spouse, which very true and Mirinda and I have been very fortunate since we've been together that I have been able to come home most every night.
Thanks for being the best wife any service member could ever ask for Mirinda!

Since I am talking about military awards, I want to let you know about 10 soldiers who were awarded the Silver Star recently. These 10 soldiers are the epitomy of what it means to be a Soldier.
Silver Star record for unit in Afghan cliff clash

Painting or Fishing????

2008-12-07T12:59:00.000-08:00

I was originally going to make an entry about how the painting of the living is going, which is going OK. But I am sure you'd find that boring as, well drying paint.
So then I thought I'd post a little story about something I know everyone would enjoy reading about, I am talking about fly fishing.
As most of our fair readers know I only began fly fishing a little more than a year ago and caught my first fish ever, shortly after I began. If you look hard enough, you'll see that first fish in my hands, it's quite a monster fish I know, but you have to start somewhere. Right?!

There's a lot to learn about fly fishing, and I have learned a lot in the past year but not enough or the right things to catch any fish at all. I must emphasize that the primary objective of fishing is catching fish, as well as enjoying time outdoors, and I must say that there are many great places to do both here in Utah. My fishing adventures this past year have taken me to some places in the great state of Utah that I hadn't seen before, Diamond Fork Canyon, where I caught that first monster brown trout, to UM Creek and the Freemont River in Sevier county to a few places that I had known otherwise but had never thought of as a place to fish like the Weber and Provo rivers. But then there's the Green river, which can be compared to Moab from my former outdoors activity. The first thing you'll notice when you are at the Green river, is that the water is very clear, I have often heard the term "gin clear" used many times when describing the water of the Green river, which I think is a great comparison. I am only really talking about the part of the Green river that comes out of the dam at Flaming Gorge at the tiny town of Dutch John, I know there's a lot more to the Green river, because it starts somewhere in Wyoming and ends when it joins the Colorado river somewhere in between Flaming Gorge and Moab to the south. One of the other amazing things about this part of the Green is that there are so many fish, I have often heard it put in terms like "20,000, 10,000 or so fish per square mile, I don't to what extent that figure is accurate, but there are a lot of fish and because the water is as clear as it is, you can see them very well as you float over head. When I was the there yesterday, I caught 10 of those thousands of fish, which I might add, increased my overall caught fish total 1000%. You do the math on that.. ;-)

So if you are looking to do some epic fishing, head to the Green river. If you want to do some painting, come on over, we've got plenty of rollers and brushes to go around.
Brian

PS, My photography group has a new book out, SL7: Time Machine, check it out now!
You may remember our last book and exhibit, where there were six of us, well now there are eight of us!

The road to heartache

2008-12-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

So this is how it works.

You take a bunch of classes, do more paperwork then you can imagine, get examined from every angle, and then they give you some kid that is hurt, neglected, or abused. This is not your child this is the state’s child. Your goal is to love the child, take care of the child, parent the child, and work towards reuniting the child with the ones who hurt, neglected or abused her. If that doesn’t work out, then you get to adopt the child. Then the child becomes your own.

We talked to a guy this evening that has had 5 placements in the last year. That is 5 times he has had his heart broken in just under 12 months. And every time they told him that this one would probably be adoptable.

We just finished class 2 and are about a third of the way through the paperwork. The more we learn and do the more I want this and the less Brian does. For today we are taking it one step at a time. I have told Brian that at any time there is not a child in our home, he gets to change his mind. I will let you know if we make it past class 3.

Gratitude

2008-11-30T16:28:00.000-08:00

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice. - Meister Eckhart

I am grateful for my husband.
I am grateful for my wife.
I am grateful for my family.
I am grateful for my friends
I am grateful for my garden.
I am grateful for film.
I am grateful for my home.
I am grateful for Holga Cameras.
I am grateful for color.
I am grateful for the past 3 years, 11 months and 29 days.
I am grateful for Brian coming home most nights (as opposed to sleeping in Iraq.)
I am grateful for being at the end of my time in the military.
I am grateful for coffee on quite mornings.
I am grateful for the stories my fellow soldiers have shared.
I am grateful for my spiritual family- our church.
I am grateful for good light.
I am grateful for a rewarding job, which lets me do what is most important.
I am grateful for 84,000+ sq/mi of Utah and all there is to do and see within them.
I am grateful for pedicures.
I am grateful for Beer.
I am grateful for a hopeful future.
I am grateful for good sharp knives.

The end of my active duty...

2008-11-23T14:17:00.000-08:00

The other day I was awarded an Army Commendation Medal, for my active duty service over the past four years. It was a nice way to end my time with a great group of Soldiers. I don't have too may awards like this, so it's nice to get one every now and again, especially when it was awarded by the two men that were responsible for awarding it to me.

The medal:

Mirinda was there and was able to pin it on me, she later said she felt like Princess Lea at the end of the very first Star Wars movie where she pinned on the medals on Luke Skywalker and Han Solo.

It's customary for service members that are retiring to be awarded either a Meritorious Service Medal or a Legion of Merit. I don't know for sure that I will get one of these awards, but I have it on pretty good authority that some kind of award or medal is coming my way soon as part of my pending retirement/graduation from the military.

Is it spring yet?

2008-11-20T19:30:00.000-08:00

The first seed catalog came today! Neon purple cauliflower, heirloom corn, bush pickling cuc’s, paprika, Dozens of pumpkins, black heirloom radishes, hundreds of tomatoes (do I want to try tomatoes from seed this year?)

Perhaps I need more boxes?

Brian becomes a vet

2008-11-14T10:05:00.000-08:00

This week Brian will be traveling to Colorado Springs to transiton from an active duty soldier to a vet. He will continue as a member of the Utah National Guard untill February 14th. I am so proud of him! Here is his letter to his fellow soldiers:

My Dear Friends/Fellow Soldiers,
I just wanted to let you know that my time with the UTARNG is coming to an end.
Earlier this year I received my 20 year letter, and my ETS will be in February, so I will not be continuing my service with the UTARNG or any other component of the United States military for that matter. I have done my time, and enjoyed everything I have gotten from it, but I am ready to move on. I know full well what my decision means, but it is my decision and I make it without regrets.

I can't begin to tell you how much of a pleasure it has been serving our great country with you. My memories of the UTARNG will be filled with many laughs, good times, hard work and probably even a tear or two as well. I am very thankful for all that I have gotten from the UTARNG, I have learned a lot about myself and gained perspectives on things that I probably wouldn't have realized had it not been for my service to our great country.

If I have never said Thank You, for your friendship, your ear when I needed someone to talk to, your advice on anything I may have come to you about, or anything else along those lines, let me do so now.

Thank You.

I'd also like to thank you for being in the military, I know that our country is in good hands when I see the caliber of people who are serving now and the citizens that they will be as veterans.

I am not sure if I will continue to have an AKO email address come February, but if you like you can email me through my website, www.mtbbrian.com , click on the contact page and you'll see my email address there. If you've never taken a look at my site, please take a moment to look at my photography.

My orders with CBHCO end the first of January, from there I plan to drill in January and February assuming the dates work with my REFRAD and ETS dates. As far as full time work goes, I am looking for new work and have had a few interviews. My primary plan will be to transition from CBHCO to a new job. My alternate plan is to return to Draper, until 14 February or until I find a new job, whichever comes first.

For those of you that are currently in or headed to Iraq or Afghanistan, God bless you and your Soldiers on a safe and speedy return, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your families as well.

I hope that if we see one another on the street or where ever we may be that you stop and say hi, you know I certainly will if I see you.

Hoo Ahh!?
;-)
Brian

Make sure you vote....

2008-11-04T12:52:00.000-08:00

No matter what you do today, 4 November 2008, make sure you vote.
No matter how you vote, make sure you vote.
No matter the party or the person you vote for, make sure you vote.
No matter if you vote is a yes or a no, make sure you vote.
The election in 2008 is extremely important and historical, make sure you vote.
So get out there and make sure you vote...

If that's not good enough of a reason to vote, remember:
Voting is Cool.
Voting is Smart.
Voting is Sexy!
Voting is Hip.
Voting is Glamorous.
Voting will help you feel good!

The last....

2008-11-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

Each day since 15 February of this year has been the last February 15th, the last 2 November that I would be in the military, and the other day, besides being the last whatever day it was, I took my last APFT, or Army Physical Fitness Test.
I didn't successfully complete it by Army standards, but as far as I am concerned I did, simply because I did it when I didn't have to in the first place. Because I am as close to retiring as I am and all that from the military I guess I didn't have to, but I felt like I had to do it, for myself and to support my fellow Soldiers. It was the first PT test I didn't pass since I have been mobilized, and because I am where I am at in the military I didn't work at the PT test as hard I need to in order to successfully pass it by the Army's Standards, which I am OK with that and I think that my fellow Soldiers are OK with it too.
The AFPT consists of three events which are meant to test your strength and endurance. Each event has a minimum standard in which you are scored, the minimum standard point value for each event is 60 points, while the maximum point value is 100 points. It's scored according to your age and gender.
The first event is the "push up", which is basically to see how many push ups you can do in two minutes. I did 36, which exceeds standards. The next event is the "sit up", which is done just like the push up event, but you are doing sit ups, I did 50, which exceeds Army standards a fair amount. The last event, is the one that has always troubled me, and that's the "2 mile run", it's the one that I have always need the most work on prior to the test, and it's the one that I didn't do so well on the other day, by Army standards that is...

Anyway...
I am proud of my service, to our great country, by next February 14 I will have been in the military for almost 21 years. I have meet and worked with a lot of great people during those 21 years. I think I am proudest of the past four years though, during my mobilization, it's been the most challenging and the most rewarding in many ways.
It's just that I am ready to move on from the military, and am looking forward to the last February 14th that i I will be in the military.

A few last things, before I end this post.
I'd like to thank Mirinda, for being a most excellent Army wife, even though we haven't been together through my entire military experience, ending it with her has made these past few years even better and sometimes bearable.
I'd also like to thank METALLICA for the free tickets to tomorrow night's show, the band gave several tickets to service members the other day. I saw them for the first time early in my military experience, so it's a nice way to go out!
METALLICA ROCKS!!!!!!
And Mirinda RULES!!!!!!!!!!!
Brian

It’s never too early to plan next year’s garden

2008-10-26T17:12:00.001-07:00

Our squares are not even properly tucked in for winter and I am already thinking about next year’s garden.

I want to do more carrots. Carrots are easy and they taste completely different out of the garden. We never had enough at once to really enjoy them as a dish so I think several more squares will get carrots next year.

I want to try beets again as our attempt at beets got smothered by the summer squashes and tomatillo. As much as I love square foot gardening I think some things take up too much room. We have some buckets already to go for the zucchini, crookneck and tomatillo. We can move them around to allow them the space they need, and it they get to grow in Mel’s Mix. And I swear to prune and thin the tomatillo vigorously. We had pounds and pounds of marble size tomatillos, and the poor lady was still making flowers when we decided she was done.

We are also going to try growing potatoes in straw. I will let you know how that goes. Our corn was too much fun so Brian will get his box again. However next year we will properly support them as well as space out the planting. When you plant all at once, they are ripe all at once.
I think we will skip radishes next year. They are fun to grow because they are ready so fast, but we don’t really eat them.

We had fun with the Anaheim’s once we learned to properly roast them to remove the skin. And please learn from my mistake, capsaicin has cumulative effects that you might not expect. Even if the peppers are not hot, if you have more than a couple, use gloves.

I think we are giving up on cilantro. Not that we don’t love cilantro, we just can’t seem to grow it. Please let me know if you have the secret. I am not so sure about broccoli either.

I will defiantly do pickling cuc’s again. However not so many unless I decide they are the ‘neighbor’ gift for Christmas 09’ Although, with all those cuc’s and a husband who will not eat them in salad or plain, I did find a recipe for a cucumber lime aid that was yummy! Here it is:

Auga Fresca de Pepino

3 quarts water

3 cucumbers, peeled and chopped

1/2 C freshly squeezed lime juice

1/4 C sugar

Pour 1/2 C of the water and 1 cup of the cucumbers in blender, Blend until cucumbers are pureed then add more cucumbers and water until all cucumbers are pureed.

Using a fine mesh sieve, strain cucumbers into a pitcher to remove seeds and pulp. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Chill before serving over crushed ice. Garnish with a slice of lime.

I am falling in love with my husband.

2008-10-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

I am falling in love with my husband all over again. We are both feeling a love and a peace that has been missing for a while now. The decision to adopt has been a difficult one, and has torn us apart in ways we didn’t even realize until we decided that this is what we are going to do. It is such a big decision, not only to add a child to our family, but to do it in this way. You don’t know what you’re getting, but you know it is going to be hard.

We had been talking about adoption for years, and had finally decided that we would not bring a child in our lives. We had decided that Ian was enough, the few weeks he is with us and the little contact we have. We have a great life and why fix what is not broken. And then my biological clock, which had never ticked, rang. Loudly!

It took a while for Brian to hear that this is not something I want but something I NEED. I need to care for a child. I have raised corn and cats, and hopefully one day chickens, but I need to raise a child. And while I love my step son, it’s not enough. While I think our relationship is special, I am not his mom. He has a mom.

Brian on the other hand was thinking that one kid, that breaks his heart with the distance between them, is enough. He worries about having enough money for the things that we enjoy and that are important to us. He worries about having enough time to be a good parent and for our marriage and for those things he likes to do. He worries that a child might come between us.

Somehow he has come to the decision that he will trust me that this is right for us. And that leap of faith in me, in us, has my heart doing loops of love and joy. What an amazing man I married.

Kitchen Cleaner

2008-10-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a recipe for an organic kitchen cleaner that will disinfect, deodorize and cut grease. And its cheep, at least per sprayer full.

Years ago I tried several “Organic Cleaner” recipes but found that they didn’t really work as good as what you can buy at the store. But I didn’t like what you can buy at the store. Either the chemicals bothered me or I felt ripped off paying for what is basically vinegar, or bleach, or ammonia and water.

My favorite cleaner was bleach and water; kills 99.9% of the bad stuff and that smell lets you know it’s clean. After I ruined 2 new shirts in the same week, Brian decided it was time to reconsider.

This is based off of several recipes found in various places on the internet. I have been using this version for a few months now and love it! The oils can be hard to find and expensive, but you only use drops (literally.) It is easy enough even I am willing to mix some up when it is time to refill.

In a large spray bottle place:
2 Cups Water
1 Cup vinegar
10 drops tea tree oil
20 drops (about 1/16 t) your favorite essential oil (see note)
Shake and spray, allow it to sit a couple of minutes on the surface you wish to fully disinfect. Shake before each use.

Note: The 20 drops essential oil are optional, however the vinegar and tea tree oil smell funny. I am currently using Sweet Orange oil and 20 drops are not enough to make it really smell orange, just enough to neutralize the smell.

Team Schiele Q &A

2008-09-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

1. What is your occupation right now?
B: Takes Care of Wounded Warriors
M: Nags planners to plan their careers
2. What color are your socks right now?
B: Grey on weekends, green on workdays
M: Its not that cold yet.
3. What are you listening to right now?
Both: typing sounds
4. What was the last thing that you ate?
B: French Fries
M: Pancakes
5. Can you drive a stick shift?
Both: Yes
6. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
B: One of his guys who’s in treatment and just lost his best friend.
M: Kory on the Denos Answering Machine- Zims is going out of business and everything is on sale.
7. How old are you today?
Both: 38
8. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV?
B: The Tour de France
M: I don’t watch sports on TV.
9. What is your favorite drink?
B: Sonic cherry lime aid
M: Sonic blackberry iced tea (Sonic – the official drink stop of team Schiele.)
10. Have you ever dyed your hair?
B: no, but I had it all cut off once, does that count?
M: Yes it is red right now.
11. Favorite food?
B: Mexican, and a nice grilled steak and beer
M: I have had the flu and saltine crackers rock!
12. What is the last movie you watched?
Both: The love guru, kinda funny, Mike Myers is hilarious
13. Favorite day of the year?
B: My birthday and June 20th and Christmas and the 4th of July.
M: My birthday
14. How do you vent anger?
B: make bugs
M: Clean the house
15. What was your favorite toy as a child?
B: Bike
M: my imagination
16. What is your favorite season?
B: Summer
M: Spring
17. Cherries or Blueberries?
B: Strawberries
M: Cherries
18. Living arrangements?
Both: Married and residing at the Team Schiele World Headquarters
19. When was the last time you cried?
B: I don’t remember
M: yesterday, while worshiping the porcelain god. (Getting over the flue)
20. What is on the floor of your closet?
B: boots and shoes
M: shoes
21. What did you do last night?
Both: watched the love guru see question 12
22. What are you most afraid of?
B: Not getting out of the army
M: Fish
23. Plain, Cheese or Spicy Hamburgers?
B: Swiss or Monterey Jack
M: Cheese
24. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
B: How about a Leica?
M: pearls
25. What is your favorite flower?
B: Mirinda
M: the ones in my garden.

Dont count em before they hatch

2008-09-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

Sad news this week for my sustainability/ preparedness/ health plans.

The city council has decided not to peruse the proposed chicken ordinance. It would seem that it is a matter of education and they have crazy ideas about chickens running wild and turning the city into a third world country. Also- bees are considered animals and are not allowed except in agricultural zones.

I will do my best to educate the City Council and hope for a change of heart. Maybe we can hope for Chickens in the spring of 2010 if not spring of 2009.

I suppose I should pick my battles and give up on the bees for now.

For those of you who can use a good chicken laugh, check out Mazola Montana’s chicken controversy.
http://www.newwest.net/city/article/missoulas_urban_chicken_squabble/C8/L8/

This and that in September

2008-09-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

We had a great day on Brian’s birthday. We went to the Monet to Picasso exhibit at the U and it was amazing. I love the impressionists and to see the actual brush strokes was so fun. I love how close up all you can see is the brush strokes and dots and as you move away, the details, light and shadow reveal themselves. Brian was impressed by the one Dahli they had. We also tried a sushi place that Brian had wanted to check out. It was yummy but I always think that sushi is overpriced.
As a gift I dyed my hair red. He missed that time when I went crazy and dyed my hair all sorts of colors. He likes it and so do I so I think I will keep it for a while. Andrea is a genius with color!
We also were able to get a tree cut down. It was dead and I didn’t think it would stand through the winter. We had just finished moving two loads of rocks to the front corner project and this guy came up and offered to take it down for a reasonable fee. We helped and kept the wood and now we will have fires for the fall and winter.
I am now finished with pickle fest 2008. I tried out 6 different pickle recipes and we will have a tasting in mid December when the last batch is ready. It is a good thing too as I am almost out of jars. I am hoping we will find one we really like and I will get rid of the other recipes.
It has been so fun to experiment with preserving our harvest. Last year we had enough stuff grow in our garden that we could actually taste a thing or two. This year we have had enough to save a bit. I froze corn on the cob. We tried it on the grill and Brian didn’t like the texture. We will try boiling it to see if it makes a difference. If not I will be glad that I only froze a handful of ears.
We went to the state fair with some friends and I think if we have luck with chickens next year we will be looking into bees. The buzzing, pollinating, honey making kind, not the baseball team. One thing at a time however, we are still waiting for chickens to be legal. We are planning our coop however so I guess you could say we are counting our chickens before they hatch. :)

Happiness runs in a circular motion

2008-09-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

I am really into circles. I love bubbles, and at one time was going to become a bubbleologist. Yes, there really is such a thing. And this summer I have seen many threads of my life come full circle.
It started at the beginning of the summer when an old friend I had broken contact with found me. It was fun to see the old friend I loved and the new person she had become. It showed me how much I had changed since I had last spent time with her. I liked what I saw in both of us.
It continued at the reunion of my Mother’s family. I was able to catch up with cousins that I had not talked to in years. I was reminded of so many happy moments from childhood, and the love between myself and grandparents long gone, cousins, aunts and uncles.
Last month both Brian and I attended our 20 year reunions. I have a better understanding of Brian after meeting some of the people who knew him as a he came of age.
I was able to reconnect with not only high school friends, but with memories of myself. I had forgotten the crazy things my friends and I would do to entertain ourselves. I had forgotten the fun and the angst and the craziness.
This life review I have been going through over the last few months, has led Brian and I to start talking about the possibility of adding a new member of Team Schiele. We are considering adoption. Nothing has been decided for sure, but we are talking about starting a new circle.

From our garden....

2008-08-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

Now that the summer is coming to an end, BOOOO, it also means that it's beginning to be harvest time for a lot of our vegetables from the garden.
So I thought I'd post a few pics of the things we just pulled out of the garden.

First up:
Cucumbers of various sizes. Mirinda is making pickles out of these babies!

Next:
These are red, white and blue potatoes! They'll make for some yummy "patriotic fries" which are far more delicious than those "other fries". ;-)

As you may know Mirinda and I love color so it should come as no surprise to see such lovely crook neck squash and Anaheim peppers...

We've also had some yummy corn, some red onions, tomatoes(most of which are still ripening), some carrots, green beans, a few radishes and three types of lettuces. Our mint plant is doing well too, it has provided us with some yummy for mint for some yummy mojotos!
We also have a huge crop of tomatillos that are still growing as well as a small crop of pimentos.
We've had a few items that didn't do so well, a couple of squares of onions were over taken in a big way by out squash, and tomatillos, as well as the beets we planted. We also planted some bell peppers that were also overtaken by our tomatoes.
Even though this has been our second year doing this, it has been a far more productive year than last. I think we've learned a lot this year, like what to plant and not to plant as far as space goes. The crook neck squash takes up A LOT of space as well as the tomatillos and potatoes.
Tomatoes do too, but they are fairly easy to control by pruning them to grow up.

That's all for now!
Brian

Like Father Like Son, the opening....

2008-08-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

Friday was the opening receptions for the two exhibitions that I mentioned in our last post.
We were out and ended up at Sam Wellers bookstore first, where my stuff was showing from high school.

It's hard to believe I did these 20 years ago! My high school reunion is next week!

After seeing my two photographs and all of the other art there, there were mostly paintings a lot of which were from this decade, but there were a few from other from the nineties and one or two going back to the 70's.

Ian had two paintings he did during the workshop he was in.

Close up, Ian's is the one with the Marlboro body and the brown one below and to the right of it.

I hope Ian can get into more of the workshops next year, I guess we heard about it rather late and were only able to get him into the one..
Brian

Like Father, Like Son.....

2008-08-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I have been doing photography for many years now, which extends well past high school.
And interestingly enough a local book store, Sam Wellers is having an art exhibit where they are looking for art from that period. It's just a fun exhibit, they are calling it "CRINGE:PURGE", the best of our high school art careers. I guess it runs just one night, as part of the August "Gallery Stroll". It takes place 15 August, from 6 to 9 PM. Sam Wellers, is located at 254 South Main Street
Salt Lake City, UT.
I am attaching the announcement card for your viewing pleasure and possible laughter. They wanted a pic of me, from that period. I am in the bottom center.Furthermore....
On that same night, Ian will ALSO being exhibiting two paintings he did when he was here last month. We were able to find an art workshop to send him to when he was here, and as part of that, the gallery is now going to show they works from the budding your artists the same time, but for a lot longer, until 12 September. What's the gallery you ask? Well it's at the same gallery I exhibited my photographs in back in October, as part of the group exhibit I was a part of.
It's the, 11th Annual Teen Workshops Exhibition, at Art Access, 230 S, 500 W, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101. it also runs from 6-9PM.
When I first told Ian about the workshop, he was reluctant to go as you can imagine, but once he got there he got there he had fun and I am sure he learned a thing or two.
His works will be available for purchase, I might add.
If I remember correctly, he'll even get the proceeds for the purchase, 70% or it anyway!
So come down and buy his two paintings!
Brian

Freedom is not Free

2008-08-03T10:38:00.000-07:00

I was at lunch with Brian last week when a woman came up and hugged us both, thanking us for our sacrifice. This is not the first time this has happened. It makes Brian uncomfortable and me proud.

I am proud of his patriotism, his love of his fellow soldier, and yes, he looks hot in the uniform.

As sacrifices go I have been very lucky. (Knock on wood.) I have never had to wait and pray while he gets shot at. When he packs his army duffle bag, he is not gone for a year or longer. I have never had to mow the lawn or fix the sink because he was gone. Although this week, I came close, to mowing the lawn I mean.

This week Brian will be staying at Camp Williams as a councilor for Freedom Academy. He is safe, having fun, and will come home Friday exhausted and full of inspiring stories. If you don’t know what Freedom Academy is, ask him. This will be his last Freedom Academy and it is bitter sweet for him. For me, it’s a week to not worry about fixing dinner but I have to take the trash out. I guess you could say its bitter sweet for me too.

Six months from now, God and Uncle Sam willing, for the first time in his adult life he will be a civilian. For the first time in our married life I will not have to wonder if Brian will be coming home or going to Baghdad. We will no longer have daily reminders of what war can do to a body and a family. He will be able to grow a beard if he wants.

As he looks forward to that day he keeps saying that he is grateful for the experiences he has had, and even more for those experiences he has not had. I am grateful for the daily reminder that freedom isn’t free, and that Team Schiele didn’t pay more than we could afford.

From Brian:
Here are a couple of news stories I found that will give you a little insight to what the Freedom Academy is about and what we did this year...

Utah Army and Air Guard host 47th annual Freedom Academy

From the Provo Daily Herald

2011 will be the 50th edition of the Freedom Academy, I won't be a part of it as a counselor, but I will be a part of the celebration some how. Ian will be able to attend that year, I hope he considers going...

Ian...

2008-07-27T17:48:00.000-07:00

Ian's visit has come and gone, it went by quickly while at the same time it ticked by rather slowly.
I love Ian and I wish could be more of a dad to him, but the circumstances make it a bit of a challenge.
During his time here, we went to the Utah Art's Festival, where the above photograph was made, with a film camera of all things! He's 14 now. We did a few things with my family and Mirinda's as well.
We also got a Wii, which Ian and I, and Mirinda too, played a lot. Ian beat me at a lot of the games, but that's OK. We worked outside in the yard more than Ian would care to, but it was a good family thing.
Where ever you are Ian, I am always thinking about you, I love you and so do a lot of other people here in Utah.
It will be almost another year until we see him again.
Brian

Mid Summer Garden Update

2008-07-15T20:33:00.000-07:00

Our garden is growing! Its not like we could eat out of our yard, but we are doing so much better then last year

Check out the corn in the back box! We should have tassels soon! The lettuce is looking good and I think we need a salad soon. We have a small handful of beans, with more on the way. We are even still getting a few peas. The zucchini and Summer squash are starting to flower, so we should be eating those soon. Our blue potato is starting to flower, but the others are still growing as much as the bugs will let them. We also have the beginnings of tomatoes.

The carrots, especially the purple variety doesn't seem to want to grow so much.

We are also making great progress on the flag corner project. The first half is more or less done and the strawberrys and wildflowers are growing.

We are finaly ready to start putting the second half together. We have removed all the weeds and tilled in some "Church Mix" This is puffed shell with compost mixed in. It is supposed to be great for our clay soil. It is called Church Mix becouse this is what the plants on the top of the LDS church conference center are growing in.

I plan to put in two more path sections, some more wildflowers, strawberrys and some desert stuff like banana yucca and red hot poker.

Yes our park stirps look horrible, we know. That is a project for another year.

Chickens again

2008-07-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to a chicken meeting to talk about allowing chickens in the West Valley City. We talked about no roosters, how to make anti chicken people comfortable and how to deal with the city's large minority population that let the chickens roam the neighborhood and butcher them on the lawn. It is far from a done deal, but I am thinking this is going to happen. Stay tuned for updates.

Here is some chicken fun while we wait. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq0zwf3aOGs

Does anyone know how to save U-tube videos or post them on the blog? Anyway, check out the latest ad campaign from our church. We cant donate to the fund to help get it on the air, but we can share it here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boyo8uK7G8Y

Ians here- I need a nap!

2008-06-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

Ian arrived Wednesday morning and we have been having sooo much fun!

Thursday Brian and Ian had some father son bonding at Cabelas. Brian finally found some waders (fishing stuff) that were of a quality and price that he could accept. Ian got a Power Popper ball gun.

Friday we all spent the day in the sun at the arts festival. We had a great time. My favorite was the guy from Kansas that made relay cool metal cactus. They were relay amazing, and from Kansas! Brian loved to just experience all the art. Ian's favorite was the yard art metal sculptures. We had hoped to stay longer, but the heat and $2.00 water wore us out. Here we are tired and happy resting up to leave.

Saturday: If you are not aware I Want Chickens! Since we first visited our friends Michael and Susan's home and meet Goldie, their first chicken, I have wanted chickens. Unfortunately they are Currently illegal in West Valley City. That is (hopefully) soon to change. The city is considering changing the laws and I am (tee hee) counting my chickens before they hatch and planning for the new pets next spring. No, I am not crazy, how many of your pets and loving, friendly, mow your lawn, eat the bugs our of your yard, fertilize the yard and make food?

So on Saturday we went to the Tour De Coop, a tour of some of Salt Lake City's back yard chicken coops. Salt Lake City allows chickens (no roosters, but who wants one of those? Now that is crazy) I had a great time, Brian caught the vision, and Ian was very well behaved! Here is one of the little ladies we met.

We are busy planning our future chicken coop and here are some of the coops we saw.

We also got to celebrate Amon's birthday. It was a great 7 year old party and Ian had a lot of fun and Brian and I had as much as our worn out selves could handle.

I was so grateful for a Sunday. I needed a day to rest.

We are hoping to see the Schiele's some time soon, although we don't yet have plans for several weeks. I think Brian is trying to set up a fishing day for Saturday.

In case I am too worn out to write next week- We are going to a chocolate factory on Monday, Sugar house park on Friday, Sunday we have a wedding extravaganza , and and and......

THANKS FOR VOTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-06-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd let you know, that the results are in from the "People's Choice" voting I posted about a few weeks ago.
And while I didn't the most votes, I DID get enough to make the top 20 list!

http://www.artistswanted.org/exposure/

I am the seventh name down, I don't know if that means anything or not, but from what I understand, there were about 2951 portfolios.
I am not sure what happens next, but the BIG prize is still in up for grabs!
Brian

Wheee

2008-06-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

2008-06-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

I want a bike! A pink cruzer. I found the perfect one on sale at K-mart a few weeks ago and now that I have the money they are sold out. Sold out, back ordered, have to wait who knows how long, all gone.

When I first saw it we were selling our old room air conditioner it seemed like the perfect way to spend some money- and save some with gas prices. I can do quick trips to the store on a bike. Not real shopping, but ran out of milk, need bread, craving cottage cheese trips.

I there are several family's that have been taking daily bike trips around the neighborhood. It looks like they are having so much fun! I want to go too.

I have an old bike I bought from Merilee that is not in working order. We could fix it up, but I was never really comfortable on it. And besides, it is not a new pink bike.

I found one I might like as much at another store. We will go look at it soon and see if it meets Brian's expert bike opinion. Stay tuned

Birds!

2008-06-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

The birds have eaten our first strawberrys! We moved the bird neting from one of our garden boxes to the strawberrys today!

June or March?

2008-06-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

The weather has been crazy for gardening. There are many days I cant get out because it is so wet and cold. We do have a few things that are doing well.

Our elderberry's are flowering! Not growing much, but they are gorgeous!

We also have our first strawberry's. Tiny, but they are cute! You are supposed to remove the berry's the first year to give the plants a chance to establish, but I think I will let them make one or two berries each.

Its nice to see soemthing growing. Our poor cucumbers keep dying. We have planted 2 batches now. The first ones all died so we planted 4 more, and are now down to 3. You can see this one is hanging on, if only just. I talked to the guy at Western Gardens, and cuks are supposed to be easy to grow. :( Any hints?

Vote For Your Favorite Photographer - ME!!

2008-05-25T18:49:00.000-07:00

Hello, Brian here dear readers of the The Chronicles Of The Team Schiele World Headquarters, I thought I'd take a moment for a shameless plug for your favorite photographer. Me! ;-)

I recently submitted four photographs to a rather prestigious photography competition where they have two main prizes that I am eligible for, one of which you can help me with.

The first one, "The Grand Prize"includes a massive scale photo show on buildings in the top New York City Art Districts: Chelsea, Dumbo and Williamsburg. An Opening Event will be hosted at the Leo Kesting Gallery in Manhattan on August 9th. They will receive: $2,008 cash, a full-press promotional campaign and a feature in their upcoming publication, The Annual.

Talk about a HUGE prize!

The second prize is where you come in, they are also doing a "People's Choice" prize of a $500 grant and a feature in The Annual.

You're probably thinking how you can vote right?

By visting the portfolio I have set up at the at the galley's website, HERE, you can casat your vote. I don't know how they are voting and all that, but make sure and give me(Your Favorite Photographer) a five star rating.

I have submitted a portfolio of four photographs, fromthe "Inflatable Characters" project I have been working on for the past couple of years.

You can see more of my photography at my website, http://www.mtbbrian.com/

Thanks for voting!

Brian

Ian's Comming!

2008-05-16T12:58:00.000-07:00

Its official! Ian will be here from June 25th to July 25th. We are realy excited and making lots of plans. Please let us know if you would like to plan something.

Jumping in

2008-05-01T14:51:00.000-07:00

So I decided we should jump on the blogging band wagon. This is what happens when I have a sick day. Apparently there is flue going around.

After all, we need a place to post all the exciting happenings at Team Schiele World Headquarters. I once read that only 3 percent of the population actually read blogs, but some where in the 40 percent range writes them.

I hope we can at least use this to post whats interesting to us.

At the moment whats interesting to me is our yard. We have been overcome with weeds this spring and my battle to subdue them is progressing in inches and hours. That's I make about an inch of progress for every hour I spend. At least it feels good to be outside.

Just a side note- I am following my standard OP and am currently printing off photos that need to be framed, ordering mothers day gifts, looking for a recipe, playing spider solitaire watching TV, and creating a blog. I just ran outside in the snow (Ugh! its May Day!) to take some pics to add, but I need to finish all the stuff in photoshop as I am getting confused.

This is our new fountain in the square foot garden. It worked great until we played with the cord. Now it is a project on the list. We will be adding 2 more boxes on what is the far side of the fountain in this photo. Brian wants an entire box of corn! All the green is weeds!

From the North

From the west

This is a baby elderberry, it will get about 6 foot tall and wide. This is an 8 foot circle.

I planted these strawberry's on Monday! they will eventually spread out all over. The big pine tree keeps throwing pine cones at them. They will be happier once we get some nice straw mulch down.