The Life and Times of the Watters Family » random

organizing, repurposing and purging

betsy — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:17:10 +0000

After a several requests and much consideration, we gave the boys their own rooms. It was a little sad for all of us but in the long run I think it will be beneficial for the boys. They spend SO much time together and more recently they have been really getting on each other’s nerves. It will be helpful to have separate rooms to practice guitar, read and study.

Sean’s room

Enough ipod

Angels & Demons rip Night Skies dvd Grilled movie download

Tales of the Black Freighter download Blade Runner release

Caleb’s room Jarhead buy

In the process of all of this moving around Cam and I ended up with our office in our bedroom. Neither of us was really excited about the prospect initially but it actually isn’t so bad after all. We are just going to have to be really diligent about not getting overtaken by the clutter of paperwork and random office related projects.

Today I decided to attack the final box of “stuff” that wasn’t addressed over the weekend in our big project. I was dreading taking the time to go through months of paperwork that needed to be filed or disposed of. It feels good to be done with it though and I feel quite productive. One question I always have when I do this type of project is, “What do we keep?” We typically keep a years worth of utility bills, paystubs, insurance policies, old checkbooks, etc. Is all that necessary? I should do some research. I should also invest in a paper shredder!

bad blogger

betsy — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:50:32 +0000

I promise to be better in January.

Our Flickr link broke (the one that used to be in the margin on the right). Cam will get it fixed eventually but until then — I posted all of our Christmas pictures and you can check them out here.

We didn’t send out Christmas cards this year — I wish we could say that we were being “green” but that wouldn’t be the truth. I was busy and it was one thing I just never got to. I have regrets. and guilt. Each time another beautiful card came with pictures of people we love and letters filled with updates, I lamented not making it a priority. On New Years day I am hoping to sit down with Cam and at least write an update/Christmas/New Years letter and post it here.

Thanks for checking in. Sorry I’ve been a bad blogger. I/we hope you had a beautiful Christmas and have a very blessed New Year !Hitch download

aliza pictures and whining

betsy — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:45:04 +0000

I took these pictures of Aliza at Cambria’s the other day. We were there celebrating Gretchen’s first Birthday (I can’t believe it’s been a year already). Gretchen is such a cutie and it’s been fun to watch her grow up this last year. You can see more pictures of the birthday here.

Aliza is one of my favorite photography subjects as I am sure you have noticed, hence the pictures below. I just love taking pictures! It is one of my most favorite things to do. I love how you can capture time, memories, expressions, and emotion in a photograph. I love how pictures can take you back to how you felt and what you thought (good or bad) when the image was captured or how you can watch your kids grow up all over again.

Cambria generously let me use her camera (Canon xti with 50mm fixed 1.8 lens) to take these pictures. So, on to the whining part–I REALLY want a new camera, in fact I would be really happy with the exact set up that Cambria has. I never plan on being a professional photographer, I would just like to be able to get really great pictures of my family and friends. I get by with my little Canon “point and shoot” but there’s so much more I could do and learn with a digital SLR.

I am very blessed and God has been more than good to me and our family so I really shouldn’t whine about a camera but I still feel like whining about it! Multiple times we have set aside money and a time for when we could purchase a new camera but something unforeseen always comes up– which we are then very thankful we had the resources to cover. Again, I remind myself, God continues to bless us beyond our expectations year after year and I really should not complain. See how this works? I do this back and forth thing, counting my blessings and then whining, at least 4 or 5 times a week.

In the scope of what’s important in life, I do realize this doesn’t even show up on the radar. I’m just being honest. Sometimes I feel like whining. The feeling usually doesn’t last long. Actually, it’s pretty much gone now. Cam has been so good for me in this area! He doesn’t whine and it’s about the only thing he doesn’t have much patience for. I may or may not get a new camera but I will continue to love taking pictures, remember to be thankful for all the beauty that God has put in my life and try not to whine (too much).

time with a good friend, shoe shopping and yummy frozen yogurt…

betsy — Sun, 11 May 2008 02:20:33 +0000

Does it get any better than that?

On a whim, I called my good friend Cambria

this afternoon to see if by some miracle we could spontaneously coordinate our schedules to get out for a little kid-free time this afternoon. Dates like that are a rarity these days for both of us. It was fun to spend time together today and be able to actually finish a sentence without one of us needing to answer a question or attend to a child.

We went to Fairhaven and checked out my friend Nia’s new shop. It’s a really cute place with lots of fun, one of kind items. I love the new blues and browns that are currently popular in decorating and I am now inspired to paint our office/craft room. From there we moved on to one of my most favorite activities– shoe shopping!

I’ve been on a mission to find a cute, comfortable pair of shoes that are versatile enough to wear with jeans, capris, shorts or whatever. I found this pair at Hilton’s. I don’t know if the picture really does them justice. They are really cute on and super comfortable.

We shopped around downtown for a little while in some of the little boutiques– it made me feel old, but we had fun. I had never been to The Red Berry so we stopped in there for some delicious frozen yogurt. If you live in Bellingham you have to go check it out, it’s on Holly St. near Bob’s Burger and Brew.

We had a really full morning (Walk for Life, Soccer, and Baseball) so the pace of this afternoon was just right after all that! It was a nice treat to get out and spend some time with a good friend, pick up some new shoes, have a yummy treat and–it’s not even Mother’s Day yet!