Julie Stiegemeyer's Blog, page 7

Seven Little Bunnies!

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This new book, published by Marshall Cavendish, is a prime story (pun intended) of how wonderfully the revision process can produce a great result! This book began with a set of 10 mice and ended up featuring seven sweet bunnies, illustrated by Laura J. Bryant.

Here's the book description from the publisher: About the Book
It's bedtime for seven little bunnies, but each bunny is busy having fun! Will they stop? One by one, each bunny gets . . . cozy, then dozy, then drowsy, then . . ...

The Creative Process and Matisse

Last month, I went with some new friends to the Art Institute of Chicago to see the new Matisse exhibit. The exhibit focuses on a short period of his work, from around 1914-1919. It was a fascinating exhibit which highlighted the influences on his art and an extremely creative and prolific period in his life. A few things stood out for me.

First, I loved how the exhibit spotlighted how he revised his paintings and sculptures. The audio recording which accompanied the exhibit (which you must us...

10 Things Everyone Needs When They're Moving

So, here's a list of 10 things everybody needs when a move is imminent. These things could be given as a goodbye gift for the person moving. If you're the one moving, make your own moving kit.

1. A box cutter. You thought I was going to say tape, right? No. Having many, many box cutters (preferably one that can be attached to one's body) is absolutely necessary. Many times during this move, I packed boxes which then I had to open before they were actually transported to the new house. For exam...

Palate Pleasers

I've had a new idea for my blog. Since moving here to Chicago, I have been slowly getting to know some of the people in our new congregation, Redeemer Lutheran Church.

In the spirit of a "getting to know you" project, I've decided to start with some cooking. I was given the newest church cookbook on the day of my husband's installation. It is called "Palate Pleasers." What better way to get to know some of the cooks in the congregation than by using their recipes?

So, I pulled the book out toda...

My flowers are in bloom

As promised, here are some photos! Everything is a work in progress, but I do feel like we're MAKING progress, so that is good. Here is a photo of our "icon wall"--the idea we got from Dr. D. Scaer. These are our hand-painted and favorite icons from various places: Ethiopia, Greece, and one commissioned by us by a Russian icon painter. That was pretty awesome (it's the one to the left of the cross of St. Nicholas).







This is my Jasmine plant that I bought at Trader Joes. It's now in bloom. Love ...

Finally a few pictures

Admittedly, these are not the best photos, and I have many more to add, but they capture at least a couple of things.

1. The installation of the new dishwasher. Yay! This day we also had a garbage disposal put in. Much needed upgrades, and I am so thankful for them (those can be my Valentine's gift). :)

2. Below are some pictures of the recent snowstorm that hit Chicago. It pretty much snowed for 36 hours straight. We don't have it nearly as bad as farther east, but still, it is up to Lucy's be...

The fun part of unpacking

One of the best (only?) things about unpacking is the decorating. We've gotten to the point where much of the house is unpacked. The bedrooms are finished, the linen closet is filled, the laundry room is organized, the kitchen is mostly done, and my work space is functional--oh, and the family room (maybe most important!) is comfy and cozy. Today I was working on the the living room. In every new space, the decor fits in a little differently. I'm trying to use what we have in a new way. Which...

February already?

I can't believe how quickly the last few weeks have passed during our relocation process. Each day, each hour, something else gets unpacked and put away in our new house, so things are definitely settling down as the house gets in shape.
Scott's installation and dinner reception were last Sunday. It was a lovely service, and the dinner was magnificent. Wow--what an incredibly warm welcome! We are just so thrilled to be here. We know that moving is a roller coaster, and we'll have up and...

The lost and the found

So here are things I've found in the last couple of days:
1. my wedding ring (yay! -- I had put it in a "safe" place so it wouldn't get ruined up with all the messiness of the move, but then couldn't find it right away).
2. my jeans!
3. my speakers for my office (so right now I'm listening to Pandora, and my speakers are working!).
4. the bus stop for Jacob--his first bus ride to school ever today.
The missing:
1. most of our drinking glasses...I haven't gotten back to unpacking more of the...

Another update

So, this morning I've been grading (for my online course), filling up the crawl space with storage stuff, and cleaning the upstairs bathroom and emptying boxes for the linen closet. I think we'll be okay as far as storage goes, but I'm still early in the unpacking process. It's a good house; it just needs some TLC and some replacement "parts."

Jacob got off to school today (his first day) and then called to say it's an early dismissal day. So, that's probably good. He had a peer "ambassador" m...