here begins the deep

I have begun the deep clean of the house. Because of how my brain works and actually having a job, this project takes place over several days and is mostly done at night. Also, because I am a procrastinator, my spring cleaning happens in September. Of course. I am EXCITED to show you pictures when it is done! Which is not yet!

So I am instead going to show you pictures of the creatures who have spent the last two and a half days laying on their bellies in the living room and very little else.




Bella and Moses: the Monochromatic Odd Couple.

*for clarification: Moses is my friend Andrea's rescue dog. A big ol' special needs labradoodle who spent a few nights with us while she was away for work. He is sweet and fun and friends with Bella.

visual update

Since I abandoned the blog for most of the summer I thought it would be nice to have a visual update of the Fun Times In The Life Of H. You can always see the oodles of other photos I've taken here, but these are a few of my editorial favorites.

Kit completed here second marathon in one year. We cheered and made signs. She is amazing.


Went down south to see the family and Mickey Mouse. Happy birthday mum, hallo to Mickey, beach family is neat.


Ransom women (Great Aunt Evangeline, Susan, and Grandma Esther) are incredible. And some of my favorites. Maybe someday I can be that remarkable.


Nephew number two made it into the world! Huge and Handsome and Hairy! Chris thought he looked most like Joe. Hah.


My Uncle Bernie is ridiculously talented and we got to be reminded of it a fabulous winery show with favorite friends Dave and Leslie. Thank you thank you thank you.



Good friends got engaged! Woo-hoo for the man side of the 12! We are seriously wrangling the most awesome husbands. Anyone who feels that The Get-Up Kids' farewell show is a life-priority is dang good in my book.


Middle brother came to visit! Surprise afternoon! Scootering and sweet potato fries! Climbing stump trees!


He brought the amazing, red-headed girl! Cute and woodsy! Smart and fun!


The monster dog is a little high-maintenance right now. Chewing bald spots. Being barky. Missing her camp kids. Also pictured, Joey's new 57 GMC truck. More on that later.


Painted for wonderful becoming-friends Jack and Nancy. I am excited about next summer just for a dinner with them.


Last night we were invited to a small dinner party with another set of becoming-friends who are just incredible. We celebrated their dying oak tree and talked about communal living and art and ethical photography and being brave and smelled old books. This part of the year is my most favorite.

dr. horrible

I am a nerd. We all know this to be true. I am quite a lover of all things superhero, Tolkein, British, and awkwardly hilarious. Also musicals. And mocumentaries. So this greatly watered my humorous, nerdy self. I even laughed out loud a few times. Which is a big deal for me and tv.

Doogie Howser + Mal + campy musical hits = Great Joy In My Soul

It may be quite late, but please, enjoy.

self

I am: a moderate I with severe NFP
I think: about scientific theories often
I know: how to build an excellent fire
I want: to be able to sleep
I have: an active imagination
I wish: for the same thing that I have since I was 15
I hate: evil
I miss: my mum
I fear: darkness and indifference
I feel: awkward often
I hear: really loud deer that sound like sasquatch
I smell: my stinky dog. seriously, she is like walter.
I crave: chocolate. chocolate. chocolate. chocolate. chocolate.
I search: for movie synopsis (synopsi? synopsises?) on wikipedia
I wonder: where my slippers are
I regret: not doing laundry earlier today
I love: jesus
I ache: in my hips
I care: most of the time
I always: want to stay in bed
I am not: as awkward as I feel
I believe: in the glory of God
I sing: mostly off-key
I dance: in the kitchen
I cry: in fervent spurts
I don’t always: put away my laundry
I fight: with jesus
I write: as I speak
I never: cheat
I listen: to npr
I need: to sleep for weeks
I am happy: I really am.

courtesy of my mum and kristen and I'm sure someone else... :o)

not dead or illiterate

Still here. Trying to upload the thousands of pictures of the whatnot that is our summer life. They will come... promise.

fit is go

Much to the joy of... well... everyone in my life, we have finally bought a new car. With air conditioning. And power windows. And airbags. It is awesome and black and a Honda Fit. Joey tried to do this great finagling scheme that his brother does, and it would have worked wonderfully if we weren't buying a car that everyone and their mother wants right now. So we went through Costco instead and saved a small chunk o' change. Wahoo for family businesses that lovingly retain you on their Costco membership. We needed something that wrestling a child into and out of would not cause severe neck trauma (although we apparently have chiropractic coverage with Joey's new health plan -- wahoo!); and that would not break down anytime I drove it alone without a cell phone (the Jeep really has it in for me). We can only praise God for continuing to provide for us and place encouraging and supportive people in our lives. And so... drumroll please...

The Fit. It still needs a name.



Also, tonight was the first night in a while that we were able to sneak a couple of quiet hours just for ourselves (and I mean two) to have dinner and work on projects before the busy evening takes off. We've been eating all of our meals outside on the back patio because it's just so lovely, and grilling most of them because it is too stinking hot in the house. Our post dinner activities: Joey catching up with his Pops and me catching up on my Garrison Keillor while working on a new Sunday School promo for the church (a very awesome, inter-generational, story/Jesus-based sharing time).



Welp, I have to run down to camp to lead a small family group, then it's back up here for a Day Camp Boys hair-dying party. Fun fun fun. Someday I may be able to do my own laundry, but I might be getting a little to eager. Hah!

Mostly Good, Some Required

For you: a pictorial history of the last few weeks.

Nephew Number Two (soon to be Kaden the First) is on the way. I flew down to the desert and saw The Other Family who I adore.





The peas are growing better than anything else. I eat them every day as I walk past. We shelled some a few nights ago and mixed it in with organic white chedder macaroni and it was delicious. Would have been better with panchetta though. Next time.



Camp is back, along with some wonderful, wonderful girls. Nova and the Gidge are mine this summer and it makes me happy in my bones.



The littlest brother has graduated. He is smart and funny and responsible and has taken care of so much more than he even is aware of right now. It will be years until he realizes how remarkable he truly is. I love him quite a lot and am so very proud of him.



This is the Man Wing of the Hansen clan in all its honesty. We celebrated the smallest one.



Sophocles the Snail has passed away. He was a shy snail. Quiet, but friendly and sweet. I am sad to see him go.



I've been teaching loads of Red Cross First Aid/CPR classes to the camping folks. The mannequins are creepy, but you realize that plastic lungs and foam faces are maybe not so bad. And it's fun to show cheesy videos full of random acronyms and carefully placed joviality.



These are the books I'm reading. Mostly good, some required. There is a theme to many of them... which brings forth our fun news. We've begun the process of adopting from Ethiopia. It's a year to two year long process, and we're about 1 1/2 months into it. Very exciting, very time-consuming, very challenging, and very much a God thing.



We are happy. We are tired. It's all good.