2010 Calories

While in Idaho for Christmas, Kyle's mom gave him pie-making lessons.  He was so careful to do everything just right so he could make it on his own.

Today, in honor of the eve of the new year, he has made a chocolate pie.

Behold the chocolate cream pie!

(with New Year's embellishments)

Happy New Year!

I will eat an extra piece of pie for you.

A Santa Debut

Almost as soon as December 25th is over, I am over Christmas.  I love the holiday, I love the season, but when it lasts from November through December, I'm about done with it once it's over.  So before I say goodbye to our Christmas tree and lights, I had to share this picture of awesomeness depicting my darling mother-in-law's debut as Santa!  I totally helped Santa craft that sweet beard too.  Felt and cotton balls, baby!  (In hindsight, glue sticks don't work that great on cotton balls).

Ok, now on to the New Year!

Merry Christmas and Blah Blah Blah

Christmas 2010. In fact, the only picture from Christmas day.

As Kati so kindly pointed out tonight, I have not blogged for awhile. 

I promise, there is good reason for this unusual behavior:

1.  We have been in Idaho.  Western Idaho.  Without Internet or cable.

2.  There is a dastardly cold snowstorm outside and I've been too snuggled up on the couch to let my arms out of this awesome down blanket to type up a post.  But maybe I need a Snuggie?

3.  I'm still upset about this whole Christmas business.

Let me tell you...

For Christmas, Kyle and I make each other lists of things we would like.  You know, to make the life of a shopping spouse that much easier.  My list consisted of approximately 87 articles of goodness including, but not limited too: super cute clothing and boots, perfume, juicer, jewelry display, ikea decor, etcetera, etcetera.  Seriously, I made it SO easy for him to pick out some stuff.  It's all about variety, I say.

Kyle's list looked a bit like this:  blu-ray this, blu-ray that, blu-ray something, blu-ray blah blah, blu-ray, blu-ray, blu-ray, Boise State slippers.

Yeah.

So I spent a month or two looking for all these blu-rays he had his heart set on (if you don't know my husband, then you don't know he is a collector of cinema. he currently desires to replace all his favorite action dvds with their blu-ray counterparts)  I found two.  And then in a desperate search for at least one more, I found Mission Impossible: 3 at WalMart just days before Christmas.  Success!! I remember feeling so triumphant as I found 3 of the hard to find blu-rays of wonder.

Enter Christmas Day: We open all our presents full of joy and Christmas cheer.  Shortly after, Kyle points out that the Mission Impossible: 3 "blu-ray" I was so excited to find is actually a dvd.  Crap.

AND THEN just yesterday I discover his secret plans to return another of the actual blu-rays I got him!! Why??  Because he already bought it.  I would be mad at him, but now I actually do remember him telling me a month or so ago to take that one off his list because he found it for a good deal and bought it anyway...

All my efforts traveling from store to store searching for the blu-rays ended up in a 1 in 3 success.  33%.  That, is an F.

You guys, I got an F in Christmas!

Lucky for me, Kyle is a good sport and just laughs it off.  Afterall, he does love his new Boise State slippers.

A Christmas Story

Christmas 2008

We've already had two Christmases together, this man and I.

The first year, we were still dating (just two months in!), and I invited him to my parent's house in Pocatello to spend the holiday.  It was Christmas Eve 2008 and Kyle was sick and I was driving and the snow was snowy. 

Before we left, I figured this trip was either going to make or break our relationship, seeing as how we'd be spending more than an ample amount of time together. And then, you know, he'd be meeting my family (!) and he'd see me without makeup (!!)

After about two hours of driving, we realized that I had, indeed, missed the turn-off to Pocatello and we were well on our way to Boise.  Boise!  Boise=the other side of Idaho from where we were supposed to be.  So lame.  It had started to snow harder and we had to backtrack an hour just to get going the right direction again.  And this time we could only go about 40 mph on the freeway.  Kyle insisted on driving from that point on...  (and, you know, he still does most of the time).

Nothing had seemed to go right.  We arrived hours later than planned, Kyle was suffering from a cold, and the snow had gotten worse.  But the few extra hours in the car made for great conversation and lasting memories. 

It was being together that Christmas that made me fall in love.  He didn't know it at the time (maybe I didn't either?), but all those hours driving in the car, getting to know each other on a deeper level made me see him in a different way. 

More than just a boyfriend, more than just a fun guy, more than just a hottie. 

More than just a rock star at heart and a Boise State fanatic.

More than just a communication major.

More than just a basketball/baseball/Scrabble star.

That Christmas was especially great.  My parents loved Kyle and my mom nursed him back to health.  The snow was so deep, we bundled up and snowshoed around the neighborhood.  We built a snow cave in the backyard.  We made snow angels together.  We had a snowball fight.

So sometimes things don't go as planned: you make a wrong turn, the weather gets sucky, someone gets sick, someone else looks sick without makeup...  But sure enough, those times sometimes end up being some of the most memorable.  At least they are for me.

Merry Christmas, Kyle. 

Something Terribly Startling

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In case you don't remember, I have to commute every day to work.  To save on gas and personal sanity, I almost always take the bus and it almost always takes 40 minutes each direction.  Last night I boarded the bus shortly after 5:00.  Nearly 45 minutes later, we had still not reached the freeway.  Still!  45 minutes!  I felt as though I could have walked home by then.  (Although probably not, realistically). 

Once we were finally freeway-bound, I dozed off, like I almost always do.  At some point in my dreaming, something terribly startling must have occurred because I woke up screaming, threw my arms in the air and whacked the woman sitting to my right.  I mean really, this was so terribly embarrassing I cannot even tell you.  She looked at me in terror and kept asking if I was okay.  Luckily the seats are high enough that I could hide from the rest of the peering eyes on the bus. 

I still can't remember what the dream was all about but I have a vague recollection of a rat and a snake.  Whatever that means.

I may never sleep on the bus again.

Gesundheit

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I was just sitting here thinking to myself how annoying it is when people sneeze. Especially when they sneeze in many multiples and then spend five minutes blowing their noses.

I was thinking how startling it is when someone sneezes and you're not expecting it and how it sets my nerves on edge, like I'm in danger or something! 

I was thinking about how terribly gross it is to sneeze and how sometimes when people sneeze, you not only hear them sneeze, but you SEE the sneeze! That is the sickest of sneeziest sneezes.  Have you ever Googled for images of sneezes?  Probably you should not, because to see a sneeze suspended in time is a disturbing type of sneeze to be sure. 

I was thinking about how all the experts say your sneeze travels 15 feet (or more?!) and so when I am walking behind someone who has sneezed, I divert my path so as to not walk into their sneeziness. 

And then I thought about how you are supposed to sneeze into your sleeve so you don't spread your sneezies and how many people really do that, do you know?  I most certainly always sneeze into my sleeve because sneezes are sick. 

And then there is the potentially awkward post-sneeze scenario: do you respond to the sneezer with a "Bless you" or "Gesundheit" or what have you?  Or do you ignore them?  And then what of the multiple sneezer? Do you offer your choice blessing after each sneeze or just at the end of what you assume is the cluster of sneezes?  I hate to respond to a sneezer, but I feel like it is bad fortune not to say "Bless you."  And then when I sneeze and no one says anything, I wonder if they even know what just happened here?!? Do they not see me?!? Cannot hear my sneezes?!?  But sneezes are cause for quite a bit of thinking, you know.

And then after all this thinking, I sneezed.  Four times.

Do you believe in karma?

Revenge! Or How I Became a Loser.

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We were walking to our car and Kyle chucked a snowball at me. All the snow ended up in my shoe and I had the most brilliant thought of revenge! Take off my snow-filled shoe and throw it at him!

Only when I did, I hit him in the face :/
And broke my shoe.

Pretty much I win the Most Losery-Wife Award.

But he did say he forgives me.

I thought it had been laid to rest....

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I don't know for sure, but this might be right up there with reusing sandwich bags. 

1.  Kyle removes a glass from the cupboard

2.  Kyle fills the glass with water

3.  Kyle drinks the water

4.  Kyle returns the glass to the cupboard

5.  I roll my eyes in disgust

????????????????????????????????????????????

I caught him doing this about a year ago and I thought it had been laid to rest.  Not so.  Just last night I watched as he got himself a drink of water and put the glass back in the cupboard.  Here is his reasoning:

1.  He is the one who is going to drink out of it again

2.  It's just water

3.  He is "germ free"

4.  "It's not like a guest is going to open the cupboard and drink out of this little glass."

5. He just did the dishes

Tell me, am I wrong to think this is disgusting?  I mean, I would rather him drink out of the faucet. Or, better yet, he could use his water bottle that is full of ice cold water just sitting in the fridge door waiting for him to use. Or Maybe I need to assign a cupboard and dishes for only him to use.

Yo Quiero

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I was driving around with Kati today (hi Kati!) and let me tell you, I have had the worst hankerin' for a soft taco all day long. So we detoured at the Taco Bell and it was seriously everything I had hoped it would be! Beef, cheese, lettuce and hot sauce. (I could eat another right this minute!) It was SO good that not more than 30 minutes later, we were back at the drive-thru for more. I am not ashamed; it was totally worth it.

A Love-Hate Relationship

twisted felt garland

yarn ball wreath 

pocket advent calendar

gift card cozy

pom pom pillow

raspberry-mascarpone whip brownies

I'm having this love-hate relationship with blogs lately. 

Love:

*Decorating inspiration

*Gift suggestions

*How to's for just about everything

*Handmade Christmas gifts

*Treats to bake and to sometimes give away

*Projects to do

*Places to go

*People to meet

*Pictures to take

*Crafts to try

Hate:

*I wish desperately that I had my own Santa's workshop in which to bury myself in all of these blogger projects/ideas/crafts/treats/gifts so I could decorate our house to the brim with cute handmade decor, whip up handmade gifts for all of our dear friends and family, and have a turkey roasting every day just to have the smell of Christmas wafting in the air.

Alas, it is December 13th, a mere 12 days from Christmas, and I have neither partridge nor turtledoves for which to celebrate with.

Let's just say my expectations this year were a little unrealistic. Maybe if I start now, I can achieve my dream handmade Christmas next year. Or maybe I'll just go to Target.

Stuff! Everywhere!

Oh, I have made quite the mess.

It all started when I realized I needed a certain tax form and I needed it right away. I started searching hither and thither for the tax form and alas, it was nowhere to be found! Eventually I just called for another copy and all is well, but in the midst of my frantic searching, I embarked upon a journey of a thousand memories. You see, I have had several boxes stashed up in my sewing room since we moved in last April. I have not known the contents of these boxes as most of them were packed by my parents when they moved from our Colorado home sometime around 2003. Why they had saved much of these things is beyond me, but let me tell you, I have thrown out at least 4 giant garbage bags full of stuff.  THERE WAS STUFF! EVERYWHERE! I did not know I could have so much stuff.

The good news is, we've already taken a huge pile to the D.I.

The bad news is, Kyle also donated the wrong box!

I realized it after we left D.I. when I noticed the little box of expensive purses was no longer in the back seat! I had no intention of donating them... in fact, I don't know what I intended to do with them, but certainly they were not to be donated. We U-turned back to donations and searched trailer after trailer after shelf of junk until we finally found my precious box of purses, already inside the store, soon to be gone forever.

Crisis averted.

But I still have a mess.

Of Windows & Dreams

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One of my favorite things to do at night is look into people's windows as we're driving by their houses. I like to see how they've decorated, the color of their walls, what they're watching on TV, or in the case of our neighbor, gawk at their oversize black-lit aquarium that takes up the entire front room. (It casts a purple glow all over their front porch and lawn)

You can learn so much by peering into someones windows, but don't you think?

And this is probably the reason why I make sure all our windows are securely covered the moment the sun goes down.  You know, there are weirdos like me out there that like to look inside.

On a completely unrelated note, I had the most glorious of dreams last night. I slept better than I have in weeks! I woke up refreshed and happy! Can you even guess what dream brought such peace and rightness to my early morning?

Well, I shall tell you.

I dreamed all night long that I was wandering the aisles of a giant warehouse/thrift store that had the most wonderful old things I ever could imagine! I even had one of those giant roller pallets that they have at Costco and it was loaded with cool old lamps and dressers and a tiny porcelain tea set from Venice. I even came across the best collection of milk glass salt and pepper shakers and was trying hard to decide which set to buy.  The very best part about it all was that there was no one else shopping but me and my dad. *sigh* If only it hadn't been a dream...  those table lamps would be perfect in my family room.

Pig & Pepper Giveaway!!

Check out the Pig & Pepper giveaway for this necklace and earring set at Busy Bee Lauren here!!

Some Assembly Required

Here's a bit of advice for you: when your mom tells you she's worried about you because you haven't blogged enough lately, you know you need to recommit yourself to blogging. If for no other reason but to keep Mom from worrying.

So, Mom, this one's for you.

Unfortunately, I have very little of interest to say because it's November December (how did it get to be December?) and already we are having the dreaded inversions here in Utah. I do not know what an inversion is exactly, but I do know that it makes the skies ever so pathetically gray and hazy and inevitably I get sick for the rest of winter until the tiniest of tulip blossoms begin to sprout from the cold, barren soil. There is just something about all that concentrated pollution hanging around in the air, I am so sure.

You would think that such a place like Utah would not have so much pollution, wouldn't you? I thought so. And then I moved here. And now I would like to go back to Colorado to breathe REAL air. You know, the kind without all the polluted haze.

But the "grass is always greener" isn't it?

Speaking of grass (or not), we have a new treadmill! A treadmill which I have yet to use, but spent 3.25 hours assembling (with Kyle) on Tuesday night. I figured it couldn't be that hard to put together.... probably you just screw the handles to the base, right?

Wrong.

267 pieces and half an episode of Glee later, we both had blistered and grease-stained fingers and two small parts too many... I forgot them and decided they were basically cosmetic anyway.

When it comes to marital project assembly, I like to be the "team manager" you could say. I take it upon myself to read the directions and call out orders. Contrary to popular belief, this is not so much because I like to be the boss, but more because if I don't read everything myself, I will not know what I am doing and basically screw everything up. In other words: I can't take directions from someone else. It's one of those personality flaws that probably I'll have to live with forever.

At any rate, we were just tightening up the last of the bolts when I looked into the monster-sized packing box and noticed a curvy bar still in its plastic.

"Oh, what's this for?" I asked.

Kyle groaned with knowing dread.

Yes, I had forgotten a whole piece of the puzzle.

Step 12 of 40 apparently went unnoticed in my calculated study of "Instructions for Assembly."

So probably we would've been done in 2.25 hours had we not had to unscrew basically everything just to fit the curvy bar into its proper place. And then I still managed to forget two small parts.

The good news is, my blistery fingers have nearly healed, all except for my thumb which was instrumental in hanging approximately 23 picture frames last night.

To be continued...

I would just like to know...

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What kind of person steals your shopping cart?!?

We had just finished hand-picking the finest of produce when I turned around and our cart was gone! At first I thought it was funny because I figured someone grabbed it by mistake and I'd find it sitting alone in some corner somewhere. But I was wrong.

When we went back to get another cart we discovered that there were no carts left so some *bleep* had stolen ours! I couldn't believe it. I kept eyeing others' carts to see if they had my squashes and apples hiding under their Marshmallow Mateys. But, no. It was for naught.

It wouldn't have mattered so much to me if our cart had been empty but do you know how long it takes to pick out good produce? It can take a long time, I tell you. And then we had to start all over again.

Saddest grocery shopping day ever.