Ran Like H E double-hockey sticks

Hooray for all the silly people who want to run a half marathon! Getting up before dawn on Sunday is so much easier when you know there is beer and hot wings awaiting you at the finish line (at 9-ish am).






Start line on Broadway (me in black, lower left)














My second-biggest fan (Paul out-weighs her...)



















Me & my banana, halfway.















Finish line - a blur!!!











Run Like Hell Half

Swinging Out

Swinging, originally uploaded by apkoski.

Where did we leave off last time? Oh yeah, the gluttony post.
Since then everybody around here has been enjoying fall like gangbusters. With the exception of winter here, every season seems to make it's presence known in some pleasing way. With fall, its the cool mornings and smell of decaying leaves that gets me... and football... and early sunsets... sweaters and fleece.

And making grown-up cider.

And lots of apples.

Until the rain stays we'll spend more time outside taking walks, picking flowers (& not, ahem, eating them), and plenty of time swinging.

When the rain decides to stay I'll finally finish organizing.

And go Christmas shopping!

-A

I'm Not Feeling the Economic Downturn

Really.
But my list is getting longer lately.


I love these inside out bowls from Anthro, one in every color.

and this necklace


and if I knew how to knit, this

and this cup from Three potato Four

- A

On this Date Eight Years Ago...

And earlier:

Random Notes

Running Errands
Our jogger has just enough storage space to fit in a nice collection of groceries and other non-necessities, as shown here: 3 oranges, 2 small oatmeals, twin sheet, pillow form, water bottle, diaper/wipes... you get the idea. Knowing that I'm more of a utility person than a fru-fru girl, it makes total functional sense for me to get my run in and do errands in one swoop. It's not about the fuel, it's about the car seat time, and time in general!

The Latest of our Greatest
The camera loses again. Adelaide loves that thing. Here she is taking infatuation with the strap.


And more baby cuteness, in her corruption Phase 1 outfit. THANKS Aunt Marci! Sooooo cute. :)

Politics
I know the post says "7 Days Ago," but if you haven't seen The Great Schlep (video contains profanity) yet, well, then tell me so I don't feel so out of it.

-A

It's Friday and I ain't got no plans pie

Fold in sweetened cream cheese, whipped heavy cream, and strawberries, raspberries, & blueberries. Graham cracker crust. No bake, because there are better things to do today.

Like picking

Signs of Summer's End, originally uploaded by apkoski.

And enjoying early fall's blue skies

Finding new inspiration and soup recipes

Testing out new toys

Planting fall veggies, training for the Run Like Hell, thinking about anniversary plans, getting in the last few summer salads, scrounging for time to sew, having fun at boot camp, thinking of a new hairdo.

Smiles

No Internet Tuesday went off without a hitch. Wednesday morning I was up before 6 in a cold sweat and injected myself with a big dose of the world wide web. Phew!

So without web-related distractions I was able to get through a few photos that have been hovering in my 'unprocessed' folder for quite a while.

Like these pictures Paul's mom took at our baby shower in May!
(eeeeek! Does this dress make my pooch look big?)

And these from our Sunday trip to the park:

We are all about getting outside lately, ever since around June, hmmm....
We'll do anything out there too, like lay around naming cloud shapes, hit the flowers, and take walks around the block, to the park, down the alley, in the front yard, the back yard, to the store, to the Library. You get the idea. What I'm trying to say is that we have an outdoor baby. She absolutely loves to be outside. If ever she's fussy, which by the way hardly ever happens, we just take her outside. It's like a 'mute' button. Smiles.

-A

We had no internet last Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning due to technical difficulties. For nearly 12 hours I couldn't look up how long to can tomato sauce, what GU 63 means, and how much a bumbo seat cost. But since then we're back in touch, so I've been able to check Ike's storm track, download an infant growth chart, and check my Facebook, of course.

I'm no internet junkie, but it felt a little freeing to not be able to run to the computer for every question that comes up. I've been doing it ever since my Bro showed me Alta Vista during one of my trips home from college. At my first job as a Fitness Technician at SSC, my 'advice' to all the middle-aged not yet internet savvy civil servants involved the internet. Looking for a home gym? Check on EBay! What's your BMI? Calculate it at CDC.gov! Tough-to-answer exercise question? Go Ask Alice!

So.... I have decided to remove the internet from my life on one day per week. I'm thinking Tuesdays. Yeah, no-internet Tuesdays! (Yes, no-technology Tuesdays sounds pretty good too, but Biggest Loser is on Tuesdays.) Not ironically, I was unable to find a "giving up the internet contract, but plenty of abstinence contracts that I will attempt to appropriately modify. Until then, you can keep check by looking at my google connection status and checking for me on your Blog stat counter!

OK, enough of that, here's some baby A photo updates:

Playing in the Bumbo

Where'd the hair go?, originally uploaded by apkoski.


Practicing with the bottle:

What We Need:

Dinner Out in under 30 (with sake)
At Yokos.
To JOIN the Human Race next year.
We raced solo. Booooor-ring.

To remember the salt next time (so that the color will spread evenly).

A bigger bath tub (since then)!



A beautiful, rainbow-y relaxing September.

-A

Lazy Long Weekend Approaching

August has flown by! We're now preparing for a 3-day weekend with pre-fall house projects, errands, a cookout, and hopefully a walk to the ice cream shop.

Before this we celebrated a birthday with family--

And visited 2 brewpubs in as many days. :)

photos courtesy of Marci!

And went to an OR Symphony event at Mt. Scott Park with friends --
Next week: photos of home projects. Woo!
Have a great Labor Day!

-A

The Value of One Hand

, originally uploaded by apkoski.

Here lies a 12-pound baby. If she is not lying on her back losing hair, or on her tummy squawking, or in any various baby containment apparatus, she is in arms. This creates challenging tasks for a holder's once-simple activities. Try typing an email using one hand, or fixing breakfast, or going to the bathroom. Huh?
Anyway, what I've created may revolutionized diaper changes away from home, and also help lessen the need for disposable and plasticized changing mats. Prepare yourselves...

for the One-handed Diaper Change Travel Mat!*

Fold

Roll Mat

Roll Strap

Fasten Velcro

Ta-Da!

Now in reverse!

No, I'll spare you. Maybe these will end up in my etsy shop someday.

-A

* made from 100% cotton.

PS - For demonstration purposes only, the opposite hand held a camera rather than a baby.

Hop Shortage? I Think Not!

Tis the season in the Pacific Northwest. The rest of the homebrewing world may be suffering from high hop costs, but here at your local A&P, hops are plentiful. This is my third year with these two vines, one Cascade and one Willamette. This year is by far the most productive. I figure I have about 3X last years yield, so I should have about a pound and a half of dried hoppy goodness. The only down side is the loss of some great shade the vines provided on top of the arbor. To my bro-in-law, you can expect a few ounces of koski-cascades in the mail one of these days to brew with. I just need to do some picking, drying, and vacuum sealing first. If anybody is eager to try a fresh, ultra hoppy IPA in about 5 weeks, feel free to stop on by. It's on my to-do list within the next couple of weeks!

Running Around

Running, originally uploaded by apkoski.

WE just returned from raucous tour of grandparents, Aelaide's that is. We saw not two, not four, but six grandparents in fewer days! Lucky girl; we only had four...

We made our triangular way from G&G plus cousins in St Louis to G&G plus uncle in Columbia, MO, to G&G plus cousins in Washington, IA. We played basketball, ate meat off the grill, toured the best student Rec. Center in the country, ate at a microbrewery/enjoyed MW microbrews...
took walks, watched the municipal band concert, went to the Farmer's Market, got McDonald's for breakfast (woo-hoo), went letterboxing, had an summer birthdays party, got a manicure and massage.... oy.

I am sad to say that we have very few pictures from the trip - busy trigger fingers. (If you're reading this and have a couple shareable pics, we'd love to get a copy, digital or otherwise!)

-A

Have I mentioned that we like beer?

Yes, and not just homebrew! We visited the Oregon Brew Fest downtown yesterday. It was the final day of the festival, and if you don't like rubbing elbows with frat boys and women dressed like their favorite Bratz doll, then attend the brew fest on Sunday before 3pm. Even the baby liked it (the festival, not the beer people)!
-A

Doing something else besides feeding and cleaning

Rocker is done, originally uploaded by apkoski.

If you think that I pretty much quit sewing things, then you're wrong. Sticking with the new apparent theme of this blog, I've been finishing up a few things that I intended to have done for Adelaide's birth day, like my nursing apron and a diaper/wipes envelope. But the most royal pain was doing the upholstery on that rocking chair. A friend, who incidentally donated nearly her entire nursery to us, gave us the chair too, which carried the wear of 2 children. I found some BH&G outdoor (so stain- and water-resistant) material at JoAnn and proceeded. Let me just say, folks, you have little business re-doing upholstery if you own a cheap Singer that you picked up from Wal-mart. It was a wrestling match.

Totally worth it though! We've already logged many hours in that thing.
Oh - Before pic is below:

- A

Eight Weeks Later...

Earlier this week a friend reminded me that we never blogged an official birth announcement for Adelaide. So here's a digital copy of our snail mail announcement - never too late, right?!


Anyway, if you need photo birth announcements, invitations, or holiday cards, check out this non-macro company called Doodlebug Dezigns. Their work & customer service was wonderful.

So here we are at 8 weeks (but not yet 2 calendar months -- how does that work?). We're happy to be here!

-A

Can't wait to take her shopping for new shoes and a pocket book!




-A

I Made Something!

Cards & Tags, originally uploaded by apkoski.

Start to finish, in about 15 days.

A Big Snore

Here's what we've been up to.



Bonus points for anyone who figures out the editing.

And now the original:

-A