Dec 13, 2013 | Holidays, Uncategorized |
Three years ago on our first Christmas we were in Arizona and decorated a tiny Christmas tree. I loved it. Last year we were in the apartment and ended up with a forest in our living room. This year we’re in a house and I almost had to buy bought/made a few more decorations. What a pity.
This wreath snowman is my Pinterest crafting success story. He’s just so cute.
I think the designers of our nativity did their best to include anyone who could have been in a 100 mile radius of the manger that night. Poor Mary. It doesn’t look like she had much of a silent night with the whole town crowded around.
Grandma gave me this nativity but she lost the original baby Jesus so she took a Jesus from another set. This Jesus is huge. I guess you could say Jesus is really big in our house. I’m sorry. The jokes are endless.
The stockings are hung over our fake fireplace with care. (We’ve put a man on the moon and yet no one has invented Christmas lights without the annoying and tacky three foot cord at the end.)
Our theme tree this year is a blue and silver snowflake downstairs. We picked out this tree after church Sunday night and it was so wet we couldn’t really tell what the tree looked like. It didn’t settle as much as I was hoping so I’ve spent considerable time pushing and pulling the branches in attempts to fluff it. You know what doesn’t bend and twist like a fake tree? A real tree. In the end it sorted itself out and looks presentable.
View at night from the top of the stairs.
I had some extra garland and lights so I strung them on our bed. I’m sure Aggie is looking at this picture and feeling depressed there aren’t any throw pillows on my bed. It’s like I’ve learned nothing from her during our friendship. 😉
We have our fake tree with all the decorations in our living room upstairs.
It’s held up with a package of No. 2 pencils. Klass act around here.
I searched high and low for a new tree topper and finally found one at the place whose sophistication rivals the pencils in the picture about- the Dollar Tree.
We got this Guess How Much I Love you ornament for Sesame. I know. The baby’s not born yet so technically doesn’t need an ornament, but you’re talking about the couple who in three years have collected the number of ornaments usually reserved for a couple going on their 44th anniversary.
May your Christmas be filled with joy and an overabundance of hot chocolate and ornaments.
Dec 12, 2013 | Holidays, Love & Marriage, Uncategorized |
We really thought we couldn’t top our gingerbread house last year. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. I don’t mean to boast but our house knocks all the other gingerbread houses off the shelf.
Christopher decorated the front and the little man. The roof, sides, and carefully assembled walkway were a joint effort.
We probably spent 10 minutes individually icing the tiny candy balls leading up to the door. Don’t come between us and a bag of piping.
I decorated the back of the house. It has a swirls and hearts theme.
Notice how no two gumballs along the wall are the same color. She who shall remain nameless was very insistent that be the case.
Dear Sesame (and all future children),
We love you and look forward to decorating a gingerbread house with you, but don’t be offended when if we make our own on the side. We don’t like icing to go where icing doesn’t belong.
Love,
Your adoring and slightly particular parents
Dec 7, 2013 | Holidays, Uncategorized |
Dec 1, 2013 | Holidays, In a People House |
While some people are recovering from the insanity that is Black Friday shopping (what unnecessary electronic on God’s green earth is worth leaving your warm bed at 1am?), I’m wondering how many more meals of turkey and sweet potato casserole we have in our future. Probably six. I believe this is filed under First World Problems.
I may not have fancy china dishes, but I do have silverware that falls into the Very Fancy catergory and I love breaking it out for all big occasions. I keep it in a very secure location in the garage- between a digital picture frame and a pile of Christopher’s uniform jackets. Obviously Martha Stewart keeps her holiday silverware in a similar location.
I thought I’d be smart and do Thanksgiving dinner shopping on Tuesday. Avoid the rush and all that. I normally don’t shop at the commissary, but I had to return a book at the post library and the commissary is right across the way. I’ve scientifically calculated the best time to shop at the commissary and unfortunately I missed the golden window this week. Either that or everyone else has also discovered the golden window. Whatever the situation, I was shopping with about 252 other people. If you’ve ever shopped at the commissary, can you agree that its name is a compound word made up of communal and misery?
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| Some flowers to keep you from hyperventilating as you think of your own traumatic shopping experiences. |
Christopher met me there and we had a slight conundrum when it came to selecting a turkey. We were the only ones eating it so we didn’t want a 26 pounder, but we also wanted more than a turkey breast. We thought we solved the problem when we discovered the perfect sized little turkey. Except we couldn’t tell if it was a turkey or a chicken. All the wrapper said was roaster. It was in the turkey section, but I put my money on it being a chicken. PROBLEM IN THE MEAT DEPARTMENT. We didn’t want to purchase mystery meat so we put a 10lb hunk of frozen meat that clearly said turkey on the label into the carriage/cart/buggy/whatever and called it a day.
I don’t mean to boast, but I was proud of the first turkey I cooked on my own. Even if it did look like a chicken.
Oct 14, 2013 | Holidays, Sesame, What's going on |
Thursday I called my midwives office. Again. These people are going to get so tired of me. I can’t help it if I want ALL THE DRUGS THEY CAN PROVIDE and continually need refills. The nurse was out of the office so I left a message asking them nicely to please call my local Walmart at their earliest convenience and hook me up with the good stuff. (The dissolving tablets! Not the ones that require water!) I am terrible at leaving messages. I hate it. I don’t particularly enjoy making phone calls either so it’s a lose-lose situation. (Side story- our Sunday School class had to call people who had visited our church within the last year and I was so petrified of a. someone actually answering the phone and b. being forced to leave a message that I procrastinated for three weeks and only allowed myself to take my anti nausea medication after I called someone. All this to say that I really need to pull myself together and start acting like a grown up.) Anyhow. The nurse’s answering machine beeped and I said, “Hello, this is Sarah MAIDEN NAME.” And then I paused for about 12 seconds while I tried to figure out if I really just said that. Then, of course, I started giggling uncontrollably. So I had to backtrack and say, “I don’t know why I said that name. *giggle giggle* That’s my maiden name and my current last name is _________. *giggle giggle* I’ve been married for almost three years and….never mind. I was wondering if you could call in a refill for me. *giggle giggle* “
As if they’d give me more drugs when I couldn’t even remember my last name.
***
I had an exciting Columbus Day weekend planned for us- we were to go camping in a cute little cabin a few hours away. I talked about it for weeks and was thrilled about the whole thing. And then the government shut down and I received and email saying, “We regret to inform you that we receive government funds and we will be closed for the unforeseen future.” If the government only knew how much time I had dedicated to planning the menu and envisioning midnight walks under the stars, they never would have DARED to close. Yes, I am still bitter about the whole thing in case that’s not glaringly obvious.
Instead of frolicking through the woods, we went pumpkin patching. I heard about a farm that sounded wonderful, so we drove 57 hours only to discover that it was the same farm Jenn and I went to last year. Unlike Columbus, I am not talented at finding new locations.
Look at the size of the girl below in comparison to the size of the pig. He could eat her for a snack.
My great goal in life is to own two donkeys and name them Stella and Gus. What can I say? I have lofty goals.
Thank goodness for the sign identifying the cow. I never would have known it wasn’t a rabbit!
We played a round of golf right next to the cow pen. I feel Tiger Woods has done the same thing many a time. I’d release the score but it would show that I lost by 12 points.
After church today we went to a different pumpkin patch to buy pumpkins. We didn’t ride down to the pumpkin patch at the first farm because somebody felt sick (same story, different day), so we bought some today. We also went in the corn maze. Notice I didn’t say we completed the corn maze. We wandered for 45 minutes and I began to worry that we’d be stuck in there forever and Sesame would be born under the shade of a cornstalk. We never found the exit and had to exit through the entrance.
What I’m not sure why I thought it would be a good idea to pay $4 to put myself in a situation where I knew I’d get lost. I’ve proven myself perfectly capable of getting lost of numerous occasions and I’ve never paid a cent for it.
Jul 8, 2013 | Holidays, It's all relative, Sports & leisure |
Snapshot 1:
Horseback riding in a torrential downpour.
Snapshot 2:
I tried to take an incognito picture of Dad and Elizabeth riding their horses behind me but all I got was this picture of the side of my face. Looks like I have a serious case of 5 o’clock shadow going on. Christopher is a lucky man!
Snapshot 4:
Snapshot 5:
The professional fireworks were canceled due to previously mentioned rain, but Christopher directed us in setting off our own personal fireworks show. I had never set off fireworks before and most of mine never left the ground. The show was successful because no one lost any important limbs!
Snapshot 6:
Showing off my flexibility Giving Dad a personal water aerobics class.
Snapshot 7:
While swimming we saw an entire rainbow circling the sun. I’d never seen anything like it before. I’d look up the technical name but then I’d get sidetracked reading predictions about my Godchild, the future prince/prince of Cambridge.
Snapshot 8:
Rainbow leaves at Centennial Park in Nashville.
