Jason’s going to love this post. I’m having one of these days. Blame it on the rainy weather (love it), the (caffeinated) coffee I have in my system, that Simon was particularly good this morning while Ian snoozed, that I just finished a really good book (in three sittings in two days), and probably especially on the fact that I have a babysitter at home with the kids and am sitting in the library with my feet up, but I am feeling inspired and happy this morning.

**Important disclaimer: I have a constantly changing mental list of things I want to do and, realistically, it’s not to be confused with a to-do list. In other words, by writing these ideas down today I am not looking for accountability, I’m just blogging and dreaming a little.

In no particular order:

• Rethink my blog and actually do something with it. I’d like to focus on a photoblog, since I take pictures (almost) every day and am trying to let my photography be a creative outlet.
• Tag, geotag, and otherwise organize all our digital pictures, both on our computers and on Flickr.
• Quilt. I’d like to find the quilt I started for our wedding and finish it and to finish the quilt I started making for Jason’s 29th birthday (2005). But most of all, I’d like to make a whole new quilt in this pattern (I haven’t decided yet if I’ll use scraps I have or get new fabric).
• Continue my decluttering rampage, which has been neglected lately for lack of time but not for lack of desire.
• Learn (again) to knit.  I do have a specific project in mind from this book. (I checked his book out of the library because out of 30 projects, there are at least 11 that I could see myself actually doing and, of those, 3 or 4 that I really will do—you know, probably.)
• Read. A lot.
• Set up a sewing room in the basement.
• Paint and otherwise finish decorating and/or furnishing our living room and dining room.
• Make a bunch of these shirts for the boys out of Jason’s old band shirts (this project has been approved pending Jason wearing each shirt one last time).
• Make a quiet book. Or three.

Even though I blurted these out in no particular order, I can see how they will have to line up in a logical progression (e.g., finish decluttering so I can set up a room so I can sew). And, truth be told, I’m finishing this post in the few more minutes I can squeeze from the Simon just woke up from his nap and is groggy time before he starts in with the chorus “Mama done! Mama done!” and trying to close the computer on my hands, so already my idealism is taking a hit. Nothing gets crossed off the list today. I’m off to play blocks.

Jason and I started dating on a Wednesday (May 26, 2004).
Jason proposed to me on a Wednesday (January 26, 2005).
Simon was born on a Wednesday (January 30, 2008).
Last, least, and not at all in the same category, but still pretty good: Project Runway airs on Wednesdays. Season 5 starts tonight. I’m excited.

A couple of weekends ago, we went to Camp Calvin Crest to celebrate Jason’s Grandpa and Grandma Kliewer’s sixtieth wedding anniversary. It was really a blessing to be reminded of and see firsthand the rich heritage of the family I’ve married into—a family much like my own in many ways.

The reunion and conversations sparked Jason’s interest in his family tree (his mom had put one together for the Kliewer family), and, naturally, he found a relevant web application to play with. We have been busily entering history into Geni. It’s pretty straightforward—it draws your family tree—but if you’ve ever tried to draw a family tree out more than a couple of generations, you can appreciate how handy it is to have all the (cyber)space you need to spread out. It’s been fun scouring family history to enter as many birth, death, baptism, and marriage (etc.) dates we can find, I’m looking forward to picking my grandma’s brain when we visit her next month. It’s a little like putting together a puzzle, and as I’m sure Jason’s mom will agree, it’s more than a little addictive (I see you adding names and details, Mom). You can go all kinds of crazy, especially if you start adding families connected by marriage (e.g., my sister-in-law’s family or my cousins’ cousins on the “other” side).

It’s been super interesting to make connections either by dates or by relationships, Here are a few of the fun facts we’ve discovered so far:

Jason shares a birthday with my Grandpa Carlson (February 1)
Simon shares a birthday with his Great-Uncle Loius (January 30)
My Great-Uncle Lawrence was married on the day President Roosevelt closed the banks during the Great Depression (March 5, 1933)
Jason’s optometrist is also his wife’s great-uncle’s wife’s sister’s husband

As if we didn’t love the Discovery Channel enough already, this is our new favorite commercial.

Last May, when we were out in Scottsbluff, Jason and I were driving back to the hotel at night, and we saw a lightning storm on the horizon. As we watched the show, we promised each other that when we had kids, we would always take the time to try to instill a sense of wonder in them. The commercial reminds me of that, and it makes me a little teary every time I watch it.

Somehow I don’t think he missed me when I went to Brook and Allison’s to watch Project Runway.