Taking the day off. Flight exams approaching. Seriously considering a new habit like nail biting.
Have a beautiful day with all those simple joys you love, and I’ll see you right back here tomorrow or maybe Wednesday. -Katie
Here I go again, trying to get my childhood postcard collection under control. The good news is that it’s shrinking. The bad news is that I’m completely smitten by this postcard display, which would absolutely not help shrink my collection.
Those of you who love receiving handwritten letters and hanging onto them might especially enjoy this project.
I think it would be a lovely way to display holiday cards, don’t you?
The fundamental beginnings of our homes often begin with the people that we live with. In fact, it’s the people that matter the most. That’s why I’ve so enjoyed sharing all of these international weddings where couples have started their own families and homes. Shall we look back on all the loveliness from the last few months of our International Wedding Crashing series?
So that wraps up our series of international weddings… for now. From a bride making her own wedding cake to a romantic castle wedding and all the other graceful weddings in this series, are you feeling just as smitten as I am? Thank you to all the guests who have shared their weddings over the last two months. You’ve been beyond fabulous. I can’t wait to start up again for Valentine’s Day.
Looking across the valley from the airport
1. A family down the road had a yard sale. I’m not sure if they sold a lot of stuff. But they did sell a horse.
2. I just learned about the 100 Thing Challenge via Time. People basically strive to own 100 things and nothing more. It’s a crazy idea to think about, no?
3. We moved back into the Tire House a little bit ago, and I forgot to tell you. Now we’re moving back out soon. I wonder what life is like without so much moving.
4. My flight exams are soon-ish. I’m as nervous as heck; Martin is beyond excited. For the first time, I actually approach him with questions about carburetors and air density.
5. There’s a good chance we’ll pass out from unrestrained, excessive consumption of this when we get to Berlin.
6. And finally, maybe you can help. I’d love to grab one last book in English and in the oh-so-low US dollars to take on our flights to Berlin. Suggestions? All-time favorites?
“Okay, we just had an engine failure,” Martin says.
I strain my ears and lean forward. My eyes squint a little as I strain to listen. The engine sounds perfectly normal to me. So I look over at him with my nose crinkled in question. ”The engine seems fine to me.” I’m wondering if I should be panicking for not even noticing we’re about to plummet to our death. Here I am, just flying along like nothing is wrong.
A long, exasperated breath floods my headset. ”We’re trying to simulate a failure,” Martin answers. His voice sounds tense, and I can tell he’s trying not to be annoyed.
The thing is my husband can notice mechanical problems that most women would never even notice. Heck, maybe most men wouldn’t either. Three weeks ago, he kept straining to hear this low whistling noise when we driving on the interstate to go grocery shopping in “the big city”. He swore this awful whistling was coming from the front of the passenger’s side. Could I hear it? Why couldn’t I hear it? I, of course, heard absolutely nothing wrong and wanted to continue to listen to our audiobook. But I couldn’t. We pulled over, and there was nothing wrong with the engine or the tire, or anything else. In fact, we didn’t really have a problem at all. A piece of tumbleweed was caught above the tire.
So he notices things I don’t. And maybe I couldn’t hear that, but I sure as heck knew that our engine was still running when we were flying. I could hear that.
That’s one of the problems with learning to fly with your spouse.
* * *
Another lesson two weeks ago.
The first time I went flying at night, I got the first kiss from my soon-to-be husband. The last time? Well let’s just say I got the opposite of a kiss. (I much more prefer the kiss.) Martin was mad.
I’m sort of liking the pilot’s seat now, which means I need three hours of night flying and ten landings as part of earning my license. Landing a plane at night is like driving down the highway in the dark, without headlights – scary, confusing, and harder than heck to see. It’s just another one of those things that experienced pilots make seem so easy.
Come fly with me at night and you will see it is not easy, and any experienced pilot like my husband might freak out just a tad.
But I will keep practicing. I want those kisses back.
* * *
I’m trying to figure out how to do 45-degree turns better. They’re the kind of maneuver that could make you revisit your lunch in about five seconds.
The very basic idea is that you have to start in one position – say facing 180 degrees – and make a complete circle until you’re facing 180 degrees again. Your wings must tip 45 degrees through the entire turn. So those of you who understand physics (i.e. definitely not me), you can guess where the challenge is. You have to maintain altitude. It means I cannot let the plane descend 1,000 feet per minute like it wants to. I cannot let a 500 feet per minute descent happen. (You see where the returning lunch comes in, no?) I practiced these turns over and over on Monday morning. It takes so much arm strength that now it hurts to stir cookie dough.
You can laugh, but we’re on a crunch. The pickings in the fridge and freezer are getting slim. We’re eating a lot of oatmeal because we have a lot of oatmeal. We’re eating a lot of black beans because… well you get the idea. We have ONE last bag of chocolate chips – a luxury item you cannot find in Germany. And if you come over tomorrow, you can share some of these amazing cookies with us.
But I must warn you: come after lunch.
I think you’ll love this next de-cluttering idea because not only does it help you and your home, it makes an even bigger impact to the recipients of your purge. So you ready to dive into your fabric stashes?
Art La Flamme, a US soldier, saw a need for change and decided to do something. Inspired by Three Cups of Tea, he’s inspired to fight for change. Art and his unit are asking people to donate sewing supplies to give to Iraqi families. He wants to help people carry on with their lives by clothing their families, making a living, and – you’ll love this part – creating a piece of beauty in their world. Fabric, yarn, thread, needles, pin cushions – you name it, and he can use it.
His program is called Iraqi Bundles of Love (IBOL), and you have to act fast if you want to participate. Packages must reach Art’s unit before they leave Iraq, which means you have until September 7 to pop your donation into the mail. Postage is the same as shipping a package within the US (or to the US, whichever the case for you).
For more details, check out this post on Art’s blog.
If you’d like to donate to the cause, Sew, Mama, Sew! will send a huge bundle of supplies including 5 yards of fabric from their store for only a $15 donation.
Don’t forget to hang onto old card tops to donate to St. Jude’s Ranch and let me know of other awesome causes so we can get the word out!
I’m an American splitting life between a 480 square foot apartment in Berlin, Germany and – get this – a house made of old tires in the Rocky Mtns.
This blog chronicles the journey of Making This Home.Meet Katie.
