Arts & Crafts

     Let’s have some fun in this section too.  A category like Arts & Crafts can take us in a multitude of directions.  We’re just going to start writing and see where the journey takes us… see kinda like art. Look around at the world that surrounds you, art is everywhere you just have to take notice of it.  Here iCrafty McCraftyn Portland art can be found in a multitude of places from the sides of buildings in the form of street art to our own dining table where the kiddos’ latest and greatest masterpieces are created.  In this section we will explore the depth and breadth of art where we find it and how at times we create it.

     In our household, we believe crafting is a great way for the entire family to relax and enjoy some free time while creating lasting memories both from the experience of making something and from doing so with the people you love… your family.  Projects we hope to feature include sewing and holiday projects as well as fun things the kiddos like to do such as duct tape creations. Some of the projects that have been done over the years might even be considered art, well, by we proud parents anyway. And that’s why this category is called Arts AND Crafts.

-Mike

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Chapter Four – A New Beginning – Part II

     Well, we finally managed to leave our fortress of coziness and headed out of the restaurant and back to the car.  Along the way I reached out at some point and held her hand for the chilly walk back to the car.  It seemed so very natural to do so and our eyes caught each other as we held hands for the first time.  We had both decided that the movie was not really in the cards for that evening so we decided to head back to Nancy’s house.  If the evening had ended at Nancy’s door with good night kiss and the memory of such a pleasant time with a wonderful person I would have called that a great date but when we pulled up to the curb in front of her house Nancy uttered the words I had terribly hoped I would hear, “would you like to come in” she said.  In my head I was thinking, HELL YEAH I DO, but calmly replied “sure” with a boyish nod and a smile.

     Nancy’s place was a lovely little farmhouse style home circa 1903 and when we entered her door I found that it was all done up for Christmas still.  It was so picturesque and charmiClay House Ing and I instantly felt a sense of what a special person it must have taken to create such a lovely environment.  I was growing more and more impressed with this wonderful person I happen to be out on a date with.  As we came in, Nancy offered me a beverage which I accepted and we settled onto her couch as her two cats introduced themselves to me.  We continued the great conversation that we were having with our dinner and sipped our beverages.  It was as if we were long lost friends that had at last found each other and were catching up on every little thing.  I wanted very much to lean over and give Nancy a kiss but I am kind of a shy person so I thought better of the idea.  It wasn’t very long after this though that we both acknowledged how glad we both were that we had taken a chance met each other that night.  And with that Nancy leaned in and we enjoyed our first kiss.

     Now a gentleman does not kiss and tell, however, once the ice was broken between us there was little stopping the epic making out that ensued.  I’m not exactly sure how long we enjoyed ourselves there on the couch as it kind of seemed that the entire time-space continuum ceased to exist for the rest of the evening.  It was at some point in this blur of delight that we agreed we should retire to the “upstairs” and we climbed her creaky stairs hand in hand.  However, remembering that this house was build in 1903 as I climbed the stairs, it seemed that with each succeeding step the air temperature was dropping a couple of degrees. Until re reached Nancy’s bedroom where I could swear one could almost see their breath.  She acknowledged the cold as we attempted to keep the fires that had started on the couch alive and well in her bedroom.  We agreed that we should immediately jump under the covers for “warmth”.Pile o' cat  The two cats seized this opportunity to mount themselves on us for as much warmth as they could glean from our shivering yet warming bodies.  Again, a gentleman does not kiss and tell (especially when his wife is his editor), but we shared a wonderful night that night and became what we like to call “reformed snuggltarians” as we slept in each others arms until the morning came.

     When the new day was upon us, which was not exactly early in the morning, we agreed that at some point we were going to have to leave the cozy confines of bed and face the chilly outside world.  We did so in a way that seemed, once again, very at ease with one another.  There was no awkward uncomfortable conversation, no sprinting to the bathroom in order to hide from each other in the light of day, but rather a feeling of romance and happiness with one another.  We finally made our way back downstairs and Nancy offered up a kind of brunch that consisted of cheese (of course), some yummy fruit, and the best coffee I think I’ve ever had in my life. It was a very sunny, bright, yet still quite cold day outside but it looked as warm and wonderful as any spring day.  We listened to a bit of music, ate our brunch, realized we never made it to the movie, and recalled our favorite moments of the previous evening together to each other.  It was a blissful morning.  Time flew by, however, and Nancy let me know that she had a 2pm meeting with a member of her nonprofit board.  Therefore I was going to have to leave sometime soon.  We both finished up our brunch and made ourselves presentable to the day and then it was time to end what would become the beginning of Nancy and I.  As I prepared to leave we continued to share soft kisses as I moved toward the door.  At long last it was time for me to make my departure.  Not knowing exactly what to say after such a wonderful time I naturally blurted out something pretty stupid.  I said “thank you for such a wonderful date and all that jazz” to which Nancy quickly replied “so that’s what their calling it these days eh”?  And with that we had a big laugh at the moment, kissed a happy kiss, and parted ways for now.

–Mike

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Travel & Leisure

On the bucket list... Firenze, Italia
On the bucket list… Firenze, Italia

     Now I think this category is probably going to be one of my faves!!  Think of it… travel near, travel far, time travel?? O.o Though it sounds self explanatory travel and leisure can include so many different things to so many different people. Traveling, for Nancy and I encompasses not only the places we’ve been together but also the places we want to go together.  It also certainly includes those places we have gone to as a family.  Those places I spoke a bit about back in the “making memories” category outline.  The destinations we’ve traveled to and have yet to reach include far off places as well as undiscovered treasures right around the corner from our home and everywhere in between.  We will share with you some of our favorite destinations and perhaps even some of our not so favorite destinations.

     Like travel, leisure time pursuits, (when leisure time presents itself) can both be with the entire family or just Nancy and I as a couple or something that Nancy or I enjoy as a hobby.  Some of our favorite leisure time activities are the ones where the entire family “unplugs” from the TV, computer, smart phone or what ever and gets back to some good ol low tech fun.  Something a seemingly simple as a friendly game of cards can lead to fun times and memories that will last way longer than you would ever imagine.  For Nancy and I a lot of our leisure time is also with low tech activities such as curling up with a good book in front of the fire or spending some quality time out in the yard “puttering” once the sun does come out.  But when we want to do something more exciting there is never any shortage of things to check out in our lovely city of Portland.  So sit back, relax, and enjoy some leisure time with us.

Mike

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Chapter Four – A New Beginning – Part I

     Nancy and I talked it over and decided to go out on New Year’s evening 1/1/11.  One of the things that struck me very early about Nancy was what a strategic thinker she was.  Both of us talked about how going out New Year’s evening should be ideal as everyone else in the world were probably recovering from New Year’s Eve.  Sheer brilliance!!

     So I gave what Nancy and I might do on our first date some thought.  Yes, I really DID give it a bit of thought.  Note to men out there:  When taking someone out for the first time DO give it a bit of thought.  There is no down side to doing this but dare I say plenty of upside!  We had already established our mutual love for all things cheese related, including fondue, so I embarked on a bold plan to have us go out to dinner at The Melting Pot for a cheesy, delicious fondue experience.  In addition to a cheesy dining experience I was thinking that one of the movies we had been discussing in our conversations with one another might be a good idea.  Yeees, I know, dinner and a movie, sounds generic and safe but wait…..read on.

     The next evening  that we spoke I put forth my idea of dinner at The Melting Pot and going to see a movie (today, neither one of us remember what the movie was that we intended to see that evening).  The idea was well received but Nancy also suggested that we meet up first for a cuppa coffee at a little place we were both familiar with called Bipartisan Cafe. I thought this sounded like a great idea so I said sure.  Little did I know that there were doins-a-foot to provide Nancy an escape plan from the date juuuust in case I turned out to be a dweeb. Bipartisan Cafe would provide that litmus test but clearly THAT did not happen! Thank goodness!

     A couple of days passed and each of us was getting excited for the weekend to arrive so that we could finally meet in person and see where fate would take us.  New Year’s Eve seemed simply uneventful ahead of the grand evening I had planned out.  Finally the weekend arrived… 1/1/11.  The day was fairly normal as Saturdays go, sleep in a bit, watch a bit of football, run a couple of errands, you know, normal stuff.  Toward late afternoon I started to give some thought as to what I might wear that evening and… wait a minute… what was that… I definitely had a butterfly flutter through inside of me… Whoa! Nerves! How cuuuute!

     We were to meet at six at Bipartisan Cafe and I DID NOT want to be late so I got all gussied up and left in plenty of time to get there a tad early.  Note: now there were a shit ton of butterflies in me. I arrived at Bipartisan and found a small table at the front corner of the cafe.  A place where I could be seen as well as see.  A couple of minutes passed and I pretended to read the Willy Week.  Then it happened, Nancy came around the corner outside and into view.  I remember that moment today as vivid as if it happened just a few minutes ago.  Her eyes met mine and she instantly lit up in a smile that made me all a flutter.  The thing I noticed most of all about her was that when she smiled even her eyes smiled.

Bi Partisan Coffee...

     She came in and we hugged our hellos and confirmed that we were, in fact, who each other thought we were.  You know… Hey Nancy…hey Mike… Hi, how are you, sigh, lets have a seat, yeah, ok…  I guess neither one of us had prepared an opening script which I suppose is probably a good thing.  Anyhoo, we just started chatting about everything from Ok Cupid, to New Year’s idiots the night before, to what wonderful pie they had in the case.  It was as if we were old friends that had met up after a long, long time between seeing each other.  She was very easy to have a conversation with and our conversation flowed delightfully.  Then I said, “you want a coffee or anything” and she was all over that as it was a really cold night and a warm cuppa sounded like just the ticket right about now.  Nancy had also walked to the cafe so she needed some warming up.

     I had made reservations for our dinner to be at seven thirty so after we finished what was a refreshingly delicious cup of coffee we decided to head out to have din.  I found out later that it was at this time she excused herself to go to the loo but actually went there to text her bestie that she need not worry about rescuing her as I seemed like a decent fellow.  Whew!  The Melting Pot in Portland is smack in the middle of downtown and wouldn’t you know it the freeway heading into downtown had some sort of major traffic problem and looked like a parking lot.  I made the split second decision to take an alternate route that would actually take us into Washington state for a bit and get around all that traffic.  Brilliant right?!?!? However, Nancy made a joke at the time about me kidnapping her and has not let me forget about that “detour” to this day.

     We arrived at the restaurant and it turned out to be an oasis of subterranean warmth and coziness on a terribly cold evening.  We ordered our first course which was cheese fondue of course (do you see a theme here) and continued to share a mealMmm, cheese fondue that was quite to our liking.  Our seat was an intimate little booth somewhat off to the side of the restaurant (someone was watching over me) and it lent itself to wonderful conversation, sharing laughs, and at times giving each other a somewhat inviting gaze.  Looking back there were times during that meal where I very much wanted to lean over and give her a nice soft kiss as the booth had us sitting in close quarters next to one another.  However, I said to myself… eassssy cowboy, don’t be quite so forward just yet and continued to enjoy our just being together there in the moment.  Courses continued to come, we continued to laugh, talk, and say a lot of mmmms.  So much so that time just seemed to stand still but it was getting quite late and we had more than missed the movie that we had intended to go see. Ohhhh well!!  (To be continued)

–Mike

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Health & Fitness…

     Y’know, while the life and times that Nancy and I have together are wonderful, into each life  a little rain must fall.  What I mean by this, to be precise, is that Nancy and I also share some similar Health issues.  Who knew when we met that one day we’d even share similar ailments!  Talk about a match made in???  Anyhoo, when one or perhaps even both of us is not feeling up to par the support and understanding that we can provide each other makes a real difference.  We manage fairly well though through watching our diets (well, for the most part) and exercise.  Aha! That is where the Fitness part of this subject area comes in!  You see, we have found that regular exercise is very helpful when it comes to living with chronic ailments that can leave one feeling a bit disjointed.

     Our main exercise of choice is biking and we back that up with PBike Love Deuxilates or Yoga.  That combination along with a healthy regimen of “Jazz” seems to keep the worst of it at bay.  Well, that and the wonders of modern medicine.  Now you may or may not have noticed that we are from Portland, Oregon.  Portland is considered by many to be one of, if not THE, most bike friendly city in all the land (the states I mean) so it is little wonder that with all of the wonderful places to explore by bike in this area that we explore them together.  However, while Portland IS bike friendly some areas are more friendly than others.  We hope to share some of those areas for the locals who read our posts.  For those of you who are not from Portland, feel free to share your experiences from biking adventures in your area.  I think we might share more than just the road in this topic area.

–Mike

 

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Making Memories

     So, as we’ve said previously, the living room is where we are going to talk about those things that make up… well… life.  One of the things that Nancy and I try to do on a consistent basis is take time out to “make memories”.  I think making memories is about making “couple” memories as well as “family” memories.  One of the things we have done with our kiddos (when the weather is not dumping inches and inches of rain on us) is to go on an after dinner “scooter walk” with them.  Stopping whenever possible to pet a friendly neighborhood kitty.  For Nancy and I memories were made recently during our trip to New York.  I fell in love with that city  as well as built memories that she and I will share and cherish for the rest of our days.  I think you get the idea of what making memories might include.  Feel free to share a memory making experience of yours.  We’d love to hear it!

IMG_20151015_143413_830[1]

–Mike

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Boundaries…

Bound·ary – noun \ˈbau̇n-d(ə-)rē\

:something (such as a river, a fence, or an imaginary line) that shows where an area ends and another area begins

:a point or limit that indicates where two things become different

boundaries : unofficial rules about what should not be done : limits that define acceptable behavior.

— Thank you Merriam-Webster

     In this area of our Family Room we are going to touch on that last little line up there that statesunofficial rules about what should not be done : limits that define acceptable behavior”. I have to ask each of you out there that are reading this… has an X ever done something that would qualify as a violation of “boundaries” in your world? I know we have, and this is the section where we will share those stories and we hope that you will share yours.

Nancy & Mike

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Inlaws & Outlaws

     Very often when one finds that very special someone and decides to get re-married (or married for that matter) the thought of that special someone’s extended family being included in the package, to an extent, generally doesInlaws & Outlaws not enter into the equation.  Now imagine for a moment multiple sets of inlaws, some you are no longer technically family with, being a part of your life.  Just because a marriage might end does not necessarily mean a relationship with other family members of ones former spouse ends.  In this section we will talk about those relationships both old and new that come with marrying that certain someone special.  It can get a bit complicated and at times downright funny.  Have a story to share that relates to this subject?  If you have a funny or heartwarming story about your inlaws or “outlaws” leave us your story today through a comment.

Nancy & Mike

 

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The Family Room

     Whoops!  Forgot to post this description of “The Family Room” tab before telling you about the sub categories in this section.  In the family room we will have conversations about family interactions after getting remarried.  Everything from the proverbial “blended” family to perhaps the shaken and stirred ones too!!  So hold on to you seats as we uncork stories of our past, and present ever changing families.  

Mike & Nancy

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Wuzbands & Whyves

     X’s…  Need we say more?  In this area we will explore those who were our husbands (Wuzbands) and those for whom we asked ourselves why (Whyves).  Now this can be a very sensitive subject when it comes to those who used to be ones significant other but I assure you we will make every effort not to bad mouth those individuals.  Blurg, as I write this MY ex is texting me that she has made plans for our son on OUR weekend.  Does this happen to anyone else out there?? Grrrr.

Mike & Nancy

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