Luke 2:10
And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people."
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Merry Christmas
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
I'm Lame.
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I made LG hold my hand so that he didn't break anything...but I'm pretty sure I was actually holding his hand for moral support.
I walked in to get a gift card and I walked out wondering what had just happened. I can't really explain it. It just freaked me out.
First off, it was totally crowded, but in a really calm and tech-savvy way. Like a robot-controlled chaos. Amongst all this robotic chaotic control, however, I couldn't figure out where to go to pay for the gift card. I looked around for cash registers at the end of the store, but there were none. Only a "genius bar" that required an appointment.
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Apple Store Employee: "How are you doing today?"
Customer: "I'm amazing! Everything is amazing when you're buying a new Apple product!"
Seriously?!?
That was my cue to leave, so I turned my attention to the front of the store where there was a small sign that said "express". OK. I'll try that, but I'm a little apprehensive because...again...no cash registers. And no actual line. Just a lump of people milling about around a guy with a handheld device that swiped debit cards.
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As I moved up to the front of the
Oooooh. That's the one I wanted.
When I asked the guy with the handheld for the silver gift card instead of the one I had, he informed me:
"Now you do know that the silver ones are only for the Apple Store products and can only be used in-store. The one you have is for apps and media online."
I was too intimidated by the mob of Apple devotees surrounding me to admit that I wasn't aware of that fact and to change my mind so I just said "I know" and continued with the silver gift card when what I wanted was the one I originally had.
How crazy is that?
He proceeded to swipe my card through the handheld device and then remarked that he'd e-mail me a receipt while looking on to the next person in the lump behind me.
My mind panicked...but how will you e-mail me? I don't think you have my e-mail address. And where is my paper receipt? Where is my wasteful plastic bag to haul my gift card in? Why are there 5 different gift cards that have different rules? Where is your giant computer register? Where is the large counter separating us for you to stand behind and for me to set my purse on? All I see is air. Where are all of the tangible things that tell me I have just purchased something from your store????? AAAGGGHHHHH!!!
I decided it best to play it super-cool and avoid asking all of those questions. Instead, I just trusted that this mecca of technology would somehow get my receipt to me and I walked out bewildered.
I called Gumshoe and told him that I'm pretty sure I just purchased the wrong gift card and that I have no clue what happened and that I was too scared to go back.
He said, "That's why we use Android."
Then he said to just save the receipt and he would exchange it tomorrow.
BUT THERE IS NO RECEIPT!!!!!! It's floating around in internet space somewhere!
Anyway...don't get me wrong, the employees were nice and the service was great and efficient. It's just too efficient. Eerily efficient.
I'm pretty sure everyone in that store was an alien.
All that to say...Uncle Robert...you're probably getting the wrong gift card for Christmas. And I'm convinced you are an alien.
Just kidding!
By the way...when I got home, I had a new e-mail. It was the receipt. They're geniuses.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
"Cuh-Ray-Zee" and a long post of random-ness
That's a great adjective for me lately. Not just crazy, but CUH-RAY-ZEE.
And it's not the kind of crazy where you're like "Wow! We've got so many Christmas parties to go to that life is just so crazy!" That's a fun kind of crazy. That's the kind of crazy where you have to figure out how to get to all of those fun parties and deciding what awesome glittery outfits will best accentuate your holiday spirit is the biggest stress factor.
Nope. The kind of crazy I'm talking about is the type where, at the end of it all, there's nothing productive to show for it. It's the kind of crazy where your normally super-predictable and planned out life is completely up in the air and you feel like you're in the front car of the anxiety-thrill-ride-of-doom. That's probably a little dramatic, but we do kind of feel emotionally drained. I'm sure Gumshoe would totally think that the phrase "emotionally drained" is completely wussy. So he is not emotionally drained. He is a zombie of emotions because that sounds cooler.
It's the kind of crazy that, at breakfast the other day, Gumshoe made a silly joke and I wasn't in the mood so I gave him a thoughtful sneer (is that an oxymoron?) to which he said very sweetly: "You're absolutely glowing today!"
Then we both laughed. Because we are laughing at the crazy. It's the best way to deal with crazy.
Is all that ambiguous enough for you? Anywho...let's play a little catch-up, mmmmmkay?
*Home Improvement
The week of Thanksgiving, Gumshoe and I finished painting the main part of the house as well as the kitchen. We also finished the upstairs hallway, which leaves the upstairs bathroom and the master bedroom and bathroom. Then...we're DONE!! Totally done painting every square inch of our home and updating along the way.
Here are some highlights:
Goodbye hideous brass fan, hello new fan with a light (what a novel idea):
Welcome to the chaotic mess that is/was our house:
And here we are, watching paint dry. This moment was such a long time coming that we literally watched the paint dry. No joke:
Neither Gumshoe or I are what you would call "photogenic"...it takes a few pics to get a good one of the two of us. And then it just starts to get depressing because you're like "is that what we really look like?" when you actually had a vision in your mind of the two of you as this amazingly hot couple.
And then you give up and just start to laugh because you're noticing all of the different things you have to do in order to take a decent picture...suck that in, tilt the chin this way, adjust my arms so they don't look too fat, etc. etc. It really is a production.
Enough gawking at the hot couple...here's a little sneaker peaker of the house. It's hard to see the difference in paint color in these pics, but trust me...yellow to grey is a good change. I'll take better "after" pics once the Christmas decor is down:
*Popcorn for Fatties
If you want to ensure you gain those 10 extra holiday lbs...white chocolate peppermint popcorn is a surefire way to do it. Trust me, I tested it out last night! Get the recipe here.
*Festive Christmas Wreath
My mom made this Christmas wreath for me and I LOVE it. Foam wreath, cute ribbon, pretty wrapping paper and a hot glue gun. You are smart and you can figure out how to recreate it, I'm sure:
*Food Poisoning/Bad Santa
I was lucky enough to get food poisoning on two separate occasions this past week. The second time around, both my friend and I got sick, so Gumshoe and I decided to call this particular restaurant so that we could inform them in case there were any special precautions they wanted to take or whatever. The manager was less than nice and implied that I was actually lying about being sick, which would be silly b/c we weren't looking to get anything out of this situation. It was so annoying that we took it up with her district manager. Long story short, here's an excerpt from the e-mail I wrote the district manager to give you an idea of how comical our dinner really was:
"On a side note (and in the interest of valuable customer feedback): the restaurant had hired a Santa Claus to greet the tables and entertain children. Upon approaching the table that my friend and I were sitting at-and it was just she and I, there were no children to entertain-he told us that he had heard we were the "naughty" table and further questioned us as to whether we had been up to anything "naughty" that night. It was a little creepy. I am aware that Santa was probably hired out by a third party and has no affiliation with Salty Iguana, but they may want to hire a different Santa next time."
*Spaghetti Squash
To ensure this post is as random as it can be...I think my new favorite vegetable is spaghetti squash:
It's fun. It's versatile. It's healthy. It's simple. Fix it up with butter, parmesan, spaghetti sauce...whatever! Yum! Try it!
*Climber
And now I leave you with my child perched safely on top of the table...rolling his beloved cars off the edge and denting our wood floors:
And yes, our Christmas tree is in the kitchen. We like the Christmas spirit to permeate every corner of the house. I keep the Salty Iguana Santa in the bathroom.
And it's not the kind of crazy where you're like "Wow! We've got so many Christmas parties to go to that life is just so crazy!" That's a fun kind of crazy. That's the kind of crazy where you have to figure out how to get to all of those fun parties and deciding what awesome glittery outfits will best accentuate your holiday spirit is the biggest stress factor.
Nope. The kind of crazy I'm talking about is the type where, at the end of it all, there's nothing productive to show for it. It's the kind of crazy where your normally super-predictable and planned out life is completely up in the air and you feel like you're in the front car of the anxiety-thrill-ride-of-doom. That's probably a little dramatic, but we do kind of feel emotionally drained. I'm sure Gumshoe would totally think that the phrase "emotionally drained" is completely wussy. So he is not emotionally drained. He is a zombie of emotions because that sounds cooler.
It's the kind of crazy that, at breakfast the other day, Gumshoe made a silly joke and I wasn't in the mood so I gave him a thoughtful sneer (is that an oxymoron?) to which he said very sweetly: "You're absolutely glowing today!"
Then we both laughed. Because we are laughing at the crazy. It's the best way to deal with crazy.
Is all that ambiguous enough for you? Anywho...let's play a little catch-up, mmmmmkay?
*Home Improvement
The week of Thanksgiving, Gumshoe and I finished painting the main part of the house as well as the kitchen. We also finished the upstairs hallway, which leaves the upstairs bathroom and the master bedroom and bathroom. Then...we're DONE!! Totally done painting every square inch of our home and updating along the way.
Here are some highlights:
Goodbye hideous brass fan, hello new fan with a light (what a novel idea):
Welcome to the chaotic mess that is/was our house:
And here we are, watching paint dry. This moment was such a long time coming that we literally watched the paint dry. No joke:
If you want to ensure you gain those 10 extra holiday lbs...white chocolate peppermint popcorn is a surefire way to do it. Trust me, I tested it out last night! Get the recipe here.
My mom made this Christmas wreath for me and I LOVE it. Foam wreath, cute ribbon, pretty wrapping paper and a hot glue gun. You are smart and you can figure out how to recreate it, I'm sure:
I was lucky enough to get food poisoning on two separate occasions this past week. The second time around, both my friend and I got sick, so Gumshoe and I decided to call this particular restaurant so that we could inform them in case there were any special precautions they wanted to take or whatever. The manager was less than nice and implied that I was actually lying about being sick, which would be silly b/c we weren't looking to get anything out of this situation. It was so annoying that we took it up with her district manager. Long story short, here's an excerpt from the e-mail I wrote the district manager to give you an idea of how comical our dinner really was:
"On a side note (and in the interest of valuable customer feedback): the restaurant had hired a Santa Claus to greet the tables and entertain children. Upon approaching the table that my friend and I were sitting at-and it was just she and I, there were no children to entertain-he told us that he had heard we were the "naughty" table and further questioned us as to whether we had been up to anything "naughty" that night. It was a little creepy. I am aware that Santa was probably hired out by a third party and has no affiliation with Salty Iguana, but they may want to hire a different Santa next time."
*Spaghetti Squash
To ensure this post is as random as it can be...I think my new favorite vegetable is spaghetti squash:
It's fun. It's versatile. It's healthy. It's simple. Fix it up with butter, parmesan, spaghetti sauce...whatever! Yum! Try it!*Climber
And now I leave you with my child perched safely on top of the table...rolling his beloved cars off the edge and denting our wood floors:
And yes, our Christmas tree is in the kitchen. We like the Christmas spirit to permeate every corner of the house. I keep the Salty Iguana Santa in the bathroom.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
A new favorite. An old favorite. And pictures of half-eaten food.
I tried and new recipe over Thanksgiving and it's going to be a new staple each year. In fact, I'm making it again for Christmas. This is what was left less than 24 hours later...
It's the kind of pie that you don't mind eating for breakfast because it's that good. This chocolate pecan pie originated from this Paula Deen recipe, but I adapted it a bit to incorporate what we had on hand. It worked out so well that I don't think I'll ever need to try the original!
Chocolate Pecan Pie
Cover bottom of pie crust with chopped pecans.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and melted butter. Add the corn syrup, sugar and chocolate chips. Stir until all ingredients are combined. Pour mixture into the pie shell over the pecans and place on a heavy-duty cookie sheet.
Bake for 12 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for an additional *45 minutes or until pie is set. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
*After reading many of the original recipe's reviews, the chief complaint was that the original baking time (25min) was way too short. I bumped it up to 45 minutes and eventually covered the crust with foil so it didn't brown too much and this worked perfectly for me. You may have to play around with the time based on your oven.
And our old favorite...Pink Arctic Freeze!
My mom started making this years ago and I prefer it in place of cranberry sauce. Sometimes I eat this for breakfast, too. It has fruit in it, m'kay?
Pink Arctic Freeze
Directions
Mix together cream cheese and mayo. Mix in pineapple, cranberry sauce and sugar. Fold in whipped cream. Pour in loaf pan and freeze at least 6 hours. Cut in slices and serve. Or just eat with a fork from the loaf pan for breakfast. Whatev.
Yum! Enjoy these goodies!
It's the kind of pie that you don't mind eating for breakfast because it's that good. This chocolate pecan pie originated from this Paula Deen recipe, but I adapted it a bit to incorporate what we had on hand. It worked out so well that I don't think I'll ever need to try the original!
Chocolate Pecan Pie
- 1 (9-inch) unbaked pie shell (I used the frozen kind from WM)
- 1.5 cups chopped pecans
- 3 large eggs, beaten
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/2 cup dark corn syrup
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Cover bottom of pie crust with chopped pecans.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and melted butter. Add the corn syrup, sugar and chocolate chips. Stir until all ingredients are combined. Pour mixture into the pie shell over the pecans and place on a heavy-duty cookie sheet.
Bake for 12 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for an additional *45 minutes or until pie is set. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
*After reading many of the original recipe's reviews, the chief complaint was that the original baking time (25min) was way too short. I bumped it up to 45 minutes and eventually covered the crust with foil so it didn't brown too much and this worked perfectly for me. You may have to play around with the time based on your oven.
And our old favorite...Pink Arctic Freeze!
My mom started making this years ago and I prefer it in place of cranberry sauce. Sometimes I eat this for breakfast, too. It has fruit in it, m'kay?
Pink Arctic Freeze
- 1 pkg cream cheese, softened
- 1 can crushed pineapple
- 1 can whole cranberry sauce
- 2 Tbs mayonnaise
- 2 Tbs sugar
- 1/2 cup whipped cream
Directions
Mix together cream cheese and mayo. Mix in pineapple, cranberry sauce and sugar. Fold in whipped cream. Pour in loaf pan and freeze at least 6 hours. Cut in slices and serve. Or just eat with a fork from the loaf pan for breakfast. Whatev.
Yum! Enjoy these goodies!
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Oh-no-ments
Isn't that clever? How I turned the word ornaments into oh-no-ments?
Gumshoe and I have some of the silliest ornaments in existence. You know those ornaments that are old and silly, but totally sentimental? We have a lot of those and as I was putting up the Christmas tree the other day, I realized how random our tree is. I mean, really...
We've got the classic spray-painted macaroni ornament courtesy of me about 24 years ago:
Then there's the upside down ornament:
Everyone loves a good deceased-mouse-pun to hang on their tree...it's also safe for the kids to play with:
Then there's the knit mailbox circa 1981 (my favorite, actually):
It still has a little letter in it that I wrote to my family forever ago (misspelled words and all). Do you love my free-hand scroll work on the top? And the poetry...very Robert Frost-esque if I do say so myself:
And who doesn't have two members of a clothespin mariachi band painted with their sisters' names? What?
We have a leterhosen-wearing teddy bear ornament:
A Hansel and Gretel/Jack and Jill/Apple tree Christmas ornament:
An ornament paying homage to Gumshoe's favorite football team growing up. And no...neither of us have ever lived anywhere near Michigan. He loved Barry Sanders and still quotes all of his stats to me as we watch our miserable football team play each Sunday. Go Chiefs!
And finally, the shrunken elf-head ornament...the dog ate the rest of it and we thought it would be funny to keep this creepy memento:
And just for kicks...after I took all these pics, I looked over to find LG playing with his cars like so:
Someone's getting some smaller pants for Christmas!
Gumshoe and I have some of the silliest ornaments in existence. You know those ornaments that are old and silly, but totally sentimental? We have a lot of those and as I was putting up the Christmas tree the other day, I realized how random our tree is. I mean, really...
We've got the classic spray-painted macaroni ornament courtesy of me about 24 years ago:
Then there's the upside down ornament:
Everyone loves a good deceased-mouse-pun to hang on their tree...it's also safe for the kids to play with:
Then there's the knit mailbox circa 1981 (my favorite, actually):
It still has a little letter in it that I wrote to my family forever ago (misspelled words and all). Do you love my free-hand scroll work on the top? And the poetry...very Robert Frost-esque if I do say so myself:
And who doesn't have two members of a clothespin mariachi band painted with their sisters' names? What?
A Hansel and Gretel/Jack and Jill/Apple tree Christmas ornament:
An ornament paying homage to Gumshoe's favorite football team growing up. And no...neither of us have ever lived anywhere near Michigan. He loved Barry Sanders and still quotes all of his stats to me as we watch our miserable football team play each Sunday. Go Chiefs!
Friday, November 18, 2011
Peas Please
Like father like son...this boy LOVES sugar snap peas.
He loves to pick the peas out of the pods and eat them raw. Then he loves to chew on the pod and spit it out. Sometimes onto the dog. Ummm...okay. But it's about the only green vegetable he will voluntarily put in his mouth, so if he wants to spit out the pod...be my guest.
But that's not what this post is really about. Let's get down to the nitty gritty and talk about how LG also likes to stick these peas up his nose. It's a new trend we've noticed and he's getting very good at it. So good, in fact, that I had to give my child an unorthodox version of mouth to mouth the other night.
Peas were on the menu for dinner and as I was cleaning up the kitchen, LG decided to shove one up his nostril. I glanced over to see his finger disappearing up his nose and quickly deduced what he was doing. I quickly removed him from the peas and held down his hands to avoid further travel of the pea while we went upstairs to do a pea extraction.
The method that Gumshoe used the other day (yes...this is the second time peas have made it up his nose) wasn't quite working. That time, we just used a bobby pin and got behind the pea to pop it out. This time, I was actually pushing the pea further into his nasal passage. In fact, I couldn't even see it any longer and I had visions of a fossilized pea causing problems down the road. I called Gumshoe at work to ask if he had any ideas so that I could avoid a trip to the doctor. Luckily, he did...
"Just push one of his nostrils closed with your finger and put your mouth over his and blow. The pea should pop right out."
Hmmm. OK. Let's try it...
"LG-this might be a little weird, but just trust me, mmmkay?"
As I awkwardly gave my child mouth to mouth, the pea popped right out just like Gumshoe said it would! Unfortunately for LG, I hadn't noticed it. After the 7th attempt of blowing into my child's mouth while he flailed his arms at me yelling "Away! Away!" and "Dada! Dada!" I kept thinking...please don't be your first memory...please don't be your first memory...
I finally noticed air coming out of LG's offending nostril as I blew so I realized the pea had to have come out. After I spotted it on the floor, I began to cheer as LG pushed me out of his way, clearly disgusted.
Moral of the story: Remember this technique when your toddler shoves objects up his nose. It will happen to you sometime, and this will save you a trip to the urgent care clinic. It will not, however, save you or your child's dignity.
He loves to pick the peas out of the pods and eat them raw. Then he loves to chew on the pod and spit it out. Sometimes onto the dog. Ummm...okay. But it's about the only green vegetable he will voluntarily put in his mouth, so if he wants to spit out the pod...be my guest.
Peas were on the menu for dinner and as I was cleaning up the kitchen, LG decided to shove one up his nostril. I glanced over to see his finger disappearing up his nose and quickly deduced what he was doing. I quickly removed him from the peas and held down his hands to avoid further travel of the pea while we went upstairs to do a pea extraction.
The method that Gumshoe used the other day (yes...this is the second time peas have made it up his nose) wasn't quite working. That time, we just used a bobby pin and got behind the pea to pop it out. This time, I was actually pushing the pea further into his nasal passage. In fact, I couldn't even see it any longer and I had visions of a fossilized pea causing problems down the road. I called Gumshoe at work to ask if he had any ideas so that I could avoid a trip to the doctor. Luckily, he did...
"Just push one of his nostrils closed with your finger and put your mouth over his and blow. The pea should pop right out."
"LG-this might be a little weird, but just trust me, mmmkay?"
As I awkwardly gave my child mouth to mouth, the pea popped right out just like Gumshoe said it would! Unfortunately for LG, I hadn't noticed it. After the 7th attempt of blowing into my child's mouth while he flailed his arms at me yelling "Away! Away!" and "Dada! Dada!" I kept thinking...please don't be your first memory...please don't be your first memory...
I finally noticed air coming out of LG's offending nostril as I blew so I realized the pea had to have come out. After I spotted it on the floor, I began to cheer as LG pushed me out of his way, clearly disgusted.
Moral of the story: Remember this technique when your toddler shoves objects up his nose. It will happen to you sometime, and this will save you a trip to the urgent care clinic. It will not, however, save you or your child's dignity.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
We can see it...
The light at the end of the tunnel! We have finally caught a glimpse of it! Now that we're moving on to updating the main part of the house...things are actually moving a lot more quickly. We started this "home refresh" project back in January with the hopes of getting it done by the end of the year. During the summer though, that goal made me laugh! Now, it actually seems like we could do it, or at least finish by the end of January.
It's amazing how much paint changes my perspective. For a while, Gumshoe and I wondered why we even bought this house. We weren't very proud of it and we were kind of embarrassed by it. Something drew us to it, but we were wondering what the heck it was. We needed to put our stamp on it...make it ours. Now, we're starting to remember what we loved about it in the first place. It's charming and cute. It's cozy and welcoming. It has good curb appeal. Our little family and lives fit perfectly inside and I'm starting to love it again! Of course, it's not our dream house and we won't be able to fit in it forever, but it's perfect for right now and I'm so glad we're putting the effort into making it beautiful.
Here are some pictures of the progress. Sorry about the quality...
Next up is the trim in the upstairs hallway. Then new lights, new 6 panel doors, new hardware, new light switches/plates...and on it goes!
It's amazing how much paint changes my perspective. For a while, Gumshoe and I wondered why we even bought this house. We weren't very proud of it and we were kind of embarrassed by it. Something drew us to it, but we were wondering what the heck it was. We needed to put our stamp on it...make it ours. Now, we're starting to remember what we loved about it in the first place. It's charming and cute. It's cozy and welcoming. It has good curb appeal. Our little family and lives fit perfectly inside and I'm starting to love it again! Of course, it's not our dream house and we won't be able to fit in it forever, but it's perfect for right now and I'm so glad we're putting the effort into making it beautiful.
Here are some pictures of the progress. Sorry about the quality...
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| BEFORE AFTER |
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| BEFORE AFTER |
Next up is the trim in the upstairs hallway. Then new lights, new 6 panel doors, new hardware, new light switches/plates...and on it goes!
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