There's always one in the crowd:
12.28.2012
12.03.2012
December??
My boys have been giving me a hard time because I don't really care to hear or play Christmas music. At first, I had an issue with it, as two of our local radio stations started to play Christmas music on November 7th!! That is WAY too early. I typically start playing it on Thanksgiving. Which I did. I had an instrumental Christmas station playing on Pandora. I figured that would be the catalyst and I'd be in a Christmas mood after that. However, the next day, I tried to play some and it just didn't work for me. So I went back to my regular music.
I've played my Oh, For Joy! CD by David Crowder Band. I've played TSO. I'm still not there. I hear it in stores and other businesses, but it's just not happening for me. We don't yet have our tree up and I thought that perhaps that was part of it.
And then last week, it dawned on me. It's the weather. I'm pretty sure we've only had snow in town once this year. ONCE. In Colorado. And it's December 3rd! Not only is there no snow, but the temperatures have been in the lower 60s most days (as high as 65!). It's definitely the weather that's throwing me off. It just feels like a nice October fall day, not December, and definitely not nearing Christmas.
Now I realize that for some of you, the whole snow and cold weather thing is irrelevant (southern Cal, some Texas friends, Floridians, etc.), but living most of my life in Colorado, this is just not normal. It's very strange. And really very bad because we're experiencing record drought here. Given that we are already living in a semi-arid climate and the fires we've had over the past dozen of years, this is very bad.
So I'm going to pray like crazy for some moisture and SNOW. Our state needs the moisture desperately and I'd like to feel just a little more Christmasy.
On a funny side note, we watched White Christmas (I just love that movie!) last night and when they arrive in Vermont, the big draw is supposed to be all the glorious snow, but there's none. In fact, it's warm and lovely - kind of like Colorado. When Bob, Phil, Betty, and Judy step off the train, we commented that they must be in Colorado.
I've played my Oh, For Joy! CD by David Crowder Band. I've played TSO. I'm still not there. I hear it in stores and other businesses, but it's just not happening for me. We don't yet have our tree up and I thought that perhaps that was part of it.
And then last week, it dawned on me. It's the weather. I'm pretty sure we've only had snow in town once this year. ONCE. In Colorado. And it's December 3rd! Not only is there no snow, but the temperatures have been in the lower 60s most days (as high as 65!). It's definitely the weather that's throwing me off. It just feels like a nice October fall day, not December, and definitely not nearing Christmas.
Now I realize that for some of you, the whole snow and cold weather thing is irrelevant (southern Cal, some Texas friends, Floridians, etc.), but living most of my life in Colorado, this is just not normal. It's very strange. And really very bad because we're experiencing record drought here. Given that we are already living in a semi-arid climate and the fires we've had over the past dozen of years, this is very bad.
So I'm going to pray like crazy for some moisture and SNOW. Our state needs the moisture desperately and I'd like to feel just a little more Christmasy.
On a funny side note, we watched White Christmas (I just love that movie!) last night and when they arrive in Vermont, the big draw is supposed to be all the glorious snow, but there's none. In fact, it's warm and lovely - kind of like Colorado. When Bob, Phil, Betty, and Judy step off the train, we commented that they must be in Colorado.
11.30.2012
Thanksgiving Day
We had such a nice Thanksgiving day this year. Not that there was anything outstanding or spectacular, but it was just a good day. Splitting the meal preparation amongst Mom, my sister, and me is nice because no one person has to do everything. Although I think Mom gets the bulk of the work, being the pie queen and all.
Side note: every year around Thanksgiving and Christmas, Schwan's and Village Inn try like crazy to convince us to buy holiday pies. What they don't understand is that the best pie baker on the planet just happens to be my very own mother. So there's just no need for their pie sales and such. Not that their pies are bad or anything, but they'll never compare to Mom's. Ever. Sorry, fellas, you'll get no pie sales in my family!
I almost always buy the turkey. The biggest one I can find since everyone wants plenty of leftovers. And that's where my dear hubby is awesome. He knows how squeamish I am about raw meat and turkey innards, so he's happy to take the bird out of its package, pull out all that stuff, clean it up, and pop it in the roaster. And then I take it from there. I can handle brushing it with buttery olive oil and sprinkling it with Pampered Chef's yummy Rosemary Herb seasoning. I'm also very capable of putting it in the oven and checking its temperature later in the day.
This turned out to be an exceptionally amazingly good turkey this year. Very moist and very delicious!
The guys were engaged in some auto repairs that were a little more challenging than they should have been.
Something about a very stuck ball joint, I believe.
With the unseasonally warm temperatures, Zach got in a little leaf blowing.
When Mom & Dad showed up, Mom had a very nice gift for both Susan and me.
Mine is the one on the right. Mom made these on her rigid heddle loom. I think she did a fantastic job!
Mom usually makes the gravy. She's very good at that, too. Unfortunately, she didn't have a good method for keeping the entire spoon out of the pan, though.
A rousing game of Pente is always a good way to keep out of the way of the cooking.
Or maybe a little DS. In pink, thankyouverymuch.
After all that hard work in the garage, they got to relax with a good movie.
I always write at the top of our white board "I am thankful for..." and let everyone add their thoughts to the board. My niece decided to make her own version. She's so creative.
And we've come full circle. John gets to carve the turkey when it's done. He loves the turkey. If I left him to do this job unattended, he'd be pretty full before it ever made it to the table. Fortunately, it was a 24 pound turkey, so there was enough for him to snack on, eat at dinner, and still have leftovers for everyone.
Photographic evidence that I was there. Sans makeup and all, but there, nonetheless.
After dinner, we played a game of Loaded Questions, ate pie, and then played Taboo. It was a really wonderful day. What about you? How was your Thanksgiving?
Side note: every year around Thanksgiving and Christmas, Schwan's and Village Inn try like crazy to convince us to buy holiday pies. What they don't understand is that the best pie baker on the planet just happens to be my very own mother. So there's just no need for their pie sales and such. Not that their pies are bad or anything, but they'll never compare to Mom's. Ever. Sorry, fellas, you'll get no pie sales in my family!
I almost always buy the turkey. The biggest one I can find since everyone wants plenty of leftovers. And that's where my dear hubby is awesome. He knows how squeamish I am about raw meat and turkey innards, so he's happy to take the bird out of its package, pull out all that stuff, clean it up, and pop it in the roaster. And then I take it from there. I can handle brushing it with buttery olive oil and sprinkling it with Pampered Chef's yummy Rosemary Herb seasoning. I'm also very capable of putting it in the oven and checking its temperature later in the day.
This turned out to be an exceptionally amazingly good turkey this year. Very moist and very delicious!
The guys were engaged in some auto repairs that were a little more challenging than they should have been.
Something about a very stuck ball joint, I believe.
With the unseasonally warm temperatures, Zach got in a little leaf blowing.
When Mom & Dad showed up, Mom had a very nice gift for both Susan and me.
Mine is the one on the right. Mom made these on her rigid heddle loom. I think she did a fantastic job!
Mom usually makes the gravy. She's very good at that, too. Unfortunately, she didn't have a good method for keeping the entire spoon out of the pan, though.
A rousing game of Pente is always a good way to keep out of the way of the cooking.
Or maybe a little DS. In pink, thankyouverymuch.
After all that hard work in the garage, they got to relax with a good movie.
I always write at the top of our white board "I am thankful for..." and let everyone add their thoughts to the board. My niece decided to make her own version. She's so creative.
And we've come full circle. John gets to carve the turkey when it's done. He loves the turkey. If I left him to do this job unattended, he'd be pretty full before it ever made it to the table. Fortunately, it was a 24 pound turkey, so there was enough for him to snack on, eat at dinner, and still have leftovers for everyone.
Photographic evidence that I was there. Sans makeup and all, but there, nonetheless.
After dinner, we played a game of Loaded Questions, ate pie, and then played Taboo. It was a really wonderful day. What about you? How was your Thanksgiving?
11.26.2012
Pre-Thanksgiving
Usually when the week of Thanksgiving rolls around, I think that I'll have the boys do some school during those first two or three days. And then that usually doesn't happen. So this year, I just told them they had the week off. Done deal. No guilt over what we didn't do. No stress over the lack. This was a good decision.
Monday morning, some of The Girls* met at Starbucks. We had a blast. We had so much fun that we seemed to annoy certain other people. Obviously those people needed to gain a sense of humor. Whatever.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Tuesday morning, some of The Girls* met at Starbucks. We had a blast. I don't think we irritated any other Starbucks patrons this time. Since it's the store where my sister works, we don't get severely out of hand or anything, just laughing at silly stuff and having some fun. We wouldn't want to tarnish her good name, after all.
* The Girls - consists of my mom, my sister, some dear friends, and me. On rare occasions, we actually ALL get together at the same time. Alas, it wasn't to be this time. Thus the need for two days at Starbucks. But we still didn't get everyone. We'll keep trying, of course.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I did a little cleaning earlier in the week and wrapped up shopping for Thanksgiving dinner food items. I had no desire to be in the grocery store come Wednesday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Wednesday, I felt the need to photograph someone and Caleb is my go-to subject. It's so nice to have one cooperative son when it come to photography. Well, for Zach, he's just happy to assist behind the scenes. Which is also nice. Everyone has their part to play, right?
Color?
or B&W?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay, rather than one very long post, I'll split this one into a couple. So the rest of the week will show up sometime soon.
Monday morning, some of The Girls* met at Starbucks. We had a blast. We had so much fun that we seemed to annoy certain other people. Obviously those people needed to gain a sense of humor. Whatever.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
Tuesday morning, some of The Girls* met at Starbucks. We had a blast. I don't think we irritated any other Starbucks patrons this time. Since it's the store where my sister works, we don't get severely out of hand or anything, just laughing at silly stuff and having some fun. We wouldn't want to tarnish her good name, after all.
* The Girls - consists of my mom, my sister, some dear friends, and me. On rare occasions, we actually ALL get together at the same time. Alas, it wasn't to be this time. Thus the need for two days at Starbucks. But we still didn't get everyone. We'll keep trying, of course.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I did a little cleaning earlier in the week and wrapped up shopping for Thanksgiving dinner food items. I had no desire to be in the grocery store come Wednesday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Wednesday, I felt the need to photograph someone and Caleb is my go-to subject. It's so nice to have one cooperative son when it come to photography. Well, for Zach, he's just happy to assist behind the scenes. Which is also nice. Everyone has their part to play, right?
Color?
or B&W?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay, rather than one very long post, I'll split this one into a couple. So the rest of the week will show up sometime soon.
11.17.2012
Baby Steps
So maybe the answer to getting back into blogging isn't to think I'll post 4-5 times a week. Maybe it's to do this in baby steps for now. Perhaps the goal should be one weekly recap. Posted on Saturday, Sunday, or maybe even Monday. Then start filling in what I can during the week. If you've seen What About Bob? you know all about baby steps. I think I'll give it a try. Sans Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. Because they don't know me. And I wasn't in their movie or anything.
Last Sunday, we celebrated my Dad's birthday in our usual way. Dinner, presents, and cake (sometimes including ice cream).
Everyone should get some Cheetos for a birthday present, right?
I hope he gets them all!
My pretty Mom.
Cousins
The things that happen when you sit in front of a white board!
We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse, which was very, very yummy! We hadn't been there in a long time, so I think that made it taste even better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caleb really likes to dress in nice clothes. He got the green tie for his birthday and hadn't had a chance to try it out. Or learn how to tie it. Come to think of it, I still don't know if he knows how. I think I did that one. Guess I'd better make him practice if he's going to wear one of those!
Naturally, he throws in an interesting expression.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday was my last day doing two Bible studies on the same day. It was a little crazy keeping up with that schedule, but at least one of the studies was lighter and we only met every other week. The other study is Beth Moore's study on the book of James. The James study has been just incredible. I'm amazed at the things I learn in her studies that I never knew or heard before, even though I may have been through a book of the Bible many times. It's always good, but sad to reach the end of a study. Good because of what I've learned (and hopefully seen implemented in my life), but sad because it's over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This morning, my niece was in a play. This was her third play since she started taking acting classes. She's so good at acting. It's just in her. That's probably why she's such a fantastic model for my picture taking. This one was called To Be or Not To Be and she played a portrait. Okay, she played Cinderella in a portrait in the library and she (along with Peter Pan, the March Hare, and a couple others) came to life. It was really quite cute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Over the years, I've done a variety of arts and crafts. The one thing I could never do is knit. Mom has taught me numerous times and I don't know what the issue is, but I just can't keep the tension correct. Either it's so tight the stitches won't move, or it's so loose, it's a big, sloppy mess. I can, however, crochet. Which is even stranger to me - I can keep tension just find in crocheting. Not sure what that's all about. Anyway, I don't do it much any more because of the problems with my entire upper right appendage. But since I've separated the keyboard from the laptop and raised the laptop monitor to a more ergonomic location, my hand and arm aren't so bad.
When I take Zach to bowling, there are a few moms there who crochet. Which made me feel like perhaps I should crochet again. So here I am, dabbling in the world of yarn and hooks. I mostly only do it while at bowling. That way, I won't get carried away, crochet too long, and cause myself more pain.
My current project is a shawl/scarf. It started out to be a scarf, but the not-really-a-pattern that I was creating wasn't working out for me. So I opted for a pattern out of a magazine I'd recently purchased. Sadly, I've run out of yarn and it's not done. So it will either be a scarf with angled ends, or I'll buy one more skein of yarn. Yes, I know...it will probably not be the right dye lot. But I don't think I care.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mom and I had some more stamping time this afternoon after the play and lunch. I'm about to the half-way point of total number of cards needed. It looks like we'll have to plan one or two more stamping days, though, if I'm going to get them all done this year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remaining activities sans photos:
Last Sunday, we celebrated my Dad's birthday in our usual way. Dinner, presents, and cake (sometimes including ice cream).
Everyone should get some Cheetos for a birthday present, right?
I hope he gets them all!
My pretty Mom.
Cousins
The things that happen when you sit in front of a white board!
We had dinner at Texas Roadhouse, which was very, very yummy! We hadn't been there in a long time, so I think that made it taste even better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caleb really likes to dress in nice clothes. He got the green tie for his birthday and hadn't had a chance to try it out. Or learn how to tie it. Come to think of it, I still don't know if he knows how. I think I did that one. Guess I'd better make him practice if he's going to wear one of those!
Naturally, he throws in an interesting expression.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tuesday was my last day doing two Bible studies on the same day. It was a little crazy keeping up with that schedule, but at least one of the studies was lighter and we only met every other week. The other study is Beth Moore's study on the book of James. The James study has been just incredible. I'm amazed at the things I learn in her studies that I never knew or heard before, even though I may have been through a book of the Bible many times. It's always good, but sad to reach the end of a study. Good because of what I've learned (and hopefully seen implemented in my life), but sad because it's over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This morning, my niece was in a play. This was her third play since she started taking acting classes. She's so good at acting. It's just in her. That's probably why she's such a fantastic model for my picture taking. This one was called To Be or Not To Be and she played a portrait. Okay, she played Cinderella in a portrait in the library and she (along with Peter Pan, the March Hare, and a couple others) came to life. It was really quite cute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Over the years, I've done a variety of arts and crafts. The one thing I could never do is knit. Mom has taught me numerous times and I don't know what the issue is, but I just can't keep the tension correct. Either it's so tight the stitches won't move, or it's so loose, it's a big, sloppy mess. I can, however, crochet. Which is even stranger to me - I can keep tension just find in crocheting. Not sure what that's all about. Anyway, I don't do it much any more because of the problems with my entire upper right appendage. But since I've separated the keyboard from the laptop and raised the laptop monitor to a more ergonomic location, my hand and arm aren't so bad.
When I take Zach to bowling, there are a few moms there who crochet. Which made me feel like perhaps I should crochet again. So here I am, dabbling in the world of yarn and hooks. I mostly only do it while at bowling. That way, I won't get carried away, crochet too long, and cause myself more pain.
My current project is a shawl/scarf. It started out to be a scarf, but the not-really-a-pattern that I was creating wasn't working out for me. So I opted for a pattern out of a magazine I'd recently purchased. Sadly, I've run out of yarn and it's not done. So it will either be a scarf with angled ends, or I'll buy one more skein of yarn. Yes, I know...it will probably not be the right dye lot. But I don't think I care.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mom and I had some more stamping time this afternoon after the play and lunch. I'm about to the half-way point of total number of cards needed. It looks like we'll have to plan one or two more stamping days, though, if I'm going to get them all done this year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remaining activities sans photos:
- Homeschooling
- Birthday lunch with a dear friend and Mom at Panera
- A trip to the annual Holiday Food & Gift Fair
- An evening of cleaning up the scrapbooking bench
- A meal delivered for a new mom whose husband is deployed
- Birthday cake shared with a new friend from church and her kids, dogs, and cat
- Attempting to resolve our lack of voice mail notification
- Fun and laughs at the grocery store with Lucy
- Impromptu visit from another friend and eating pierogies together
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