Snow

It's been cold enough and this afternoon as I predicted, it snowed.

I smelled it.

*D just laughed at this pic saying, "That just looks like rain." And yes, I'll admit it had been raining before the flakes fell, but it did snow for at least an hour. Of course nothing stuck, but here's to hoping!

new cousin

Because of the late hour, E was unable to meet her new cousin last night. That made it a priority to get in some cuddles this afternoon. Uncle K and Auntie R were so patient with her incessant need to kiss their new baby's face and gently rub her head. It was a very sweet time.

Welcome Mabel Lynn

At 8:11 this evening, Mabel Lynn Hume @ 6 lbs 3 oz, had joined our family.

Thanksgiving / Black Friday

(yes, D is in charge of the mashed potato's)

(olives)

(I whipped up some simple napkin rings)

(on the cusp of Christmas)

(individual pumpkin tartlettes with fresh whipped cream)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(E broke the snow globe D got her for Christmas last year, sad)

(frost)

(more frost)

(family)

(breakfast)

Turkey, by E

Lost & Found

I had a feeling that we'd come across our stolen pumpkins at some point. This one was down the street, apparently thrown at this fire hydrant...we noticed it driving by.

The Grinch That Stole...PUMPKINS?!!!

Alright! Enough of this!

I've been good. I, along with my 3-year-old-Christmas-clone have been bidding our time. Patiently. We've watched our quaint little downtown quietly transform into a winter wonderland. We drove past the cherry picker holding men in woollen caps and rain slickers gently trimming the town tree with bobbles and globes. We've pressed our noses against storefront windows that've been dusted with fake snow and miniature ice skaters. And we giggled with delight upon discovering the lamp posts adorned with twinkly lights.

Not yet.

Our neighbors this weekend started stringing lights on their roofs, and posting plastic snowmen on their lawns.

Can't.

The malls have decked their halls, and wintry melodies lightly play in elevators.

We'll wait until Friday.

This was my sentiment, until this evening at approximately 7:47 when we arrived home from having dinner with my parents. Someone had stolen our pumpkins from our front porch! And they weren't tiny! In fact we paid pretty good money for them! They were kind of the last bit of Harvest that I was holding onto without letting myself tear into the boxes of Christmas decorations from the garage! And now, you know what? Bring on the boxes! I know it's pathetic, and there are far greater things that could consume my brain, but I've wanted to decorate for weeks, and have held strong. It's been cold, dark and rainy. D was on a 3 1/2 week absence. I could have used a little holiday cheer. It was all I could do to keep from queuing up the iPod with all my Christmas albums. But this, this broke my will.

You take my pumpkins, I deck my halls!

2, 4, 6, 8! Who Do We Appreciate?!

Hazel! Hazel! Hooray for Hazel!












What a fun cheerleader birthday party!

Do you like Apples?

This is funny...

You've HEARD About This, Right?

Music you'll like.

Bright Idea...

Most of you know that I am always looking for ways to save $. One way that I have been doing this is Costco. Between them and Trader Joe's (another way I cheaply stock our shelves at home) I get 98% of my shopping done.

I happened to be cruising down the 'light bulb' aisle at Costco today and spied the compact fluorescent light bulbs. Now, I used to work for a rather high end lighting store, and I really do notice the types (incandescent, fluorescent, or halogen) of light in homes and stores. I've been avoiding these energy efficient bulbs because of their traditional buzzing, the abnormal pinkish or bluish light they produce, and the anticlimactic lag between flipping the switch and illumination leaves a lot to be desired. But, what's this?

INSTANT REBATE?

$10.00 off instantly of a $13.99 10-pack of 60W bulbs?

WHAT IS THAT?

$3.99 FOR THE ENTIRE BOX, .40 EACH!!!!

CA-CHING!

I bought 2 boxes, and have started replacing the bulbs to our most frequently used lamps and fixtures. The type of light still isn't my favorite, but I'm hoping the type of electricity bill will be.

PS Somehow they've virtually eliminated the buzzing sound!

Skip-To-My-Lou

(I love how she uses her arms and her wide knees...)

Eat Local

Here is a campaign aimed at putting locally grown food on your Thanksgiving table this year. Take the pledge today, and you're automatically entered into the drawing for a free turkey!

Click here!

*Seattlites only, sorry you East Coasters!

Ok, Ok...

I know I've been doing a little bit-o-borrowing of great youtube videos from my blogging buddies, and well, I can't help it. I look at it as; The furthering of good things.

It's no secret that I l-o-v-e The (American) Office. D and I were fans of the British version and extremely skeptical of its American take-off, but were won over, shortly following it's premiere. Now, obsessed we are. We bought all the episodes from iTunes (before NBC pulled them and refused to pay it's writers) and watched them incessantly. We then purchased the DVD's (feels very hipicritical now with The Strike going on...) for outtakes and special features, we know the episodes backward and forward. This show is pretty much why we got cable, our TV sits dormant most all other days of the week. And as luck would have it, D's even become rather friendly with some of the cast.

So, anything The Office, I love.

This is one I lifted from Steph, I watched it a handful of times on her on her post, and just figured I'd add the thing here:

Your suggestions...

Need a good book. Your suggestions please...looking for something that I can read in short increments (like before I turn out the light). I've picked up a couple novels at the library recently only to be disappointed and so bored I couldn't finish. My latest start-to-finish read was Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Loved this book (as I know others have), and may resort to reading her other books, but would love to know what you're reading, or are looking forward to reading!

Doh!

E tripped on her way into preschool this morning. Her face smacked right into the outdoor cement staircase and she bit into the backside of her upper lip and scraped up the outside. Blood. Tears. Wailing. Ah, to be three. Of course this happens right as we're planning our family Christmas card photo, this week. Thank God we didn't loose any teeth or create any facial scars!

Qwuh, Qwuh, Qwuh, (A)quarium...

E has been sounding out words like crazy! She picks out all sorts of things to have me help her spell. It's so exciting! We went to the Seattle Aquarium with Unlce B and Auntie G. As she was later recounting her day on the phone to Daddy, she said "We went to the Quarium." D must have said something like "Where?" Because what ensued was something not unlike our impromptu phonics lessons "Daddy, QWUH-QWUH-QWUH, like quail, QUARIUM, Daddy."

Anyhow, here's our Quarium photo's, it was her first visit, and my first time back since the fantastic re-model!

(E w/Connor)

(jellyfish)

(orca)

(sea dome)

(examine the salmon)

(sea anemone)

(river otters)

(tide pool)

From The Horse's Mouth

You may have already watched these on Amy or Scott's blogs, but I wanted to post it here. It's important that art is valued, that they get compensated for creating the things we value.

Pirates, Popcorn, and Pancakes

Sleepovers are so much fun!

Watch no Evil

In support of the Writer's Strike our family will not be buying any more DVD's or watching free streaming.

Hat

Those that have knit with me know that I started a pale pink hat a l-o-n-g time ago. It was a tricky pattern, and it exhausted my knitting energy for nearly 1 year now. I would pick it up in-between other projects but with no real recipient in mind I didn't really have enough momentum to finish it. Well, after my friend gave birth recently, I knew it was meant for her new little girl. I finished it this last week and will present it to her this evening.

Where in the World Are You?

Got out the map yesterday to help E track where D is. It's a large laminated US map that we mark with a overhead projector pen, I traced out his route and she gets to "X" out each destination after breakfast.

Gish, the Fish

Our neighbor requested to purchase a fish for E's birthday, I obliged and offered to get the tank. Well, we've been waiting and waiting for that knock on the door, weeks now (She turned 3 in September...). Mike, our neighbor, even brought it up when we graced his doorstep last week while Trick-or-Treating promising to bring over her pet this last weekend. Nothing. So, enough is enough. You can only look at an empty fish tank of water for so long before you start getting the feeling that this is pathetic, and slightly heart-breaking for the little toe-head that is constantly wondering what the heck is going on.

We've been brainstorming names for her forthcoming pet for at least a month. Bellanor, Gavid, and a myriad of other rhyming 'names,' were E's suggestions. But on the way out the door Gish was her last offering, and ya know what? I think it's a good one. It represents this time in her life when rhyming is pretty much all she does, falling down in fits of laughter at some of the silly outcomes. So, Gish, the fish it is!


We buckled up, and were on our way, with Auntie Gloria in tow. She perused the tanks with eager excitement, saying "This one, oh no, this one!" over and over. We finally settled on a black moor goldfish with bulgy eyes.
She gingerly carried him home in his plastic bag, and talked to him explaining everything. "Here's your new home, that's your light, here's your rocks, they're red."


Look at that face (E's)! She couldn't be happier!

Our Brains are Turning Mushy

No more TV.

I unplugged the thing yesterday morning. We're not avid watchers anyhow, we recently got cable but still resort to watching commercial free DVDs (except on sacred Thursday nights at 9:00). I've relied on them to keep E busy while preparing dinner or to take a shower. But the other day she had a throw-down fit at my request to turn it off. She doesn't throw fits, or I should say that I've never allowed her to throw fits. But this, this was a fit and I'm not having it. I announced that it was turning her brain to mush, and that we were now going to return to occupying our home-time with puzzles, art, dress-up, board games, playdough, dance parties, lego's and whatever other creative things we have around! I walked into her room, circled it while calling out all the things that were gathering dust due to lack of play and that if she wanted to keep them, I would have to start seeing some serious inclusion into her daily playtime. And later today we have a date to return all the DVDs to the library that she's become addicted to.

What's been so great, is that she hasn't looked back. Totally content to dance and play with the string of balloons my brother and sister-in-law brought over. I did though, finally set up her fish tank as 'Alternative' TV, and we picked out her new pet this afternoon. I know her interest will likely fade soon, but she could just watch that little guy swim circles all day long!

Therapy

My sister was treated very badly by a friend. She was taken advantage of emotionally over and over. Very recently an occasion presented itself, and my sister just couldn't take it, it was the proverbial straw that broke her back. They broke up.

It's hard. I've been where she is. You feel like you've lost valuable time that you could have invested elsewhere. You feel cheated and slighted and stupid for ever thinking the relationship was healthy; something mutual. You feel sad that people can let you down so hard. And when it's all done, you mourn on top of it all, because it really is a death no matter how stunted it was.

Well, one year way back this friend knit her a scarf. Nothing special and it was rarely used, but none-the-less a reminder of this sour friendship; a bright orange flag waving in her coat closet. K was done with the reminders, she bagged everything up that even reminded her of this fruitless time and brought it over for me and my family to look over before it was trashed. I drew the orange scarf out of the bag, hmmm... yarn for another project? Ah, two birds with one stone...I fished out the woven-in end of yarn and handed it to K, it quickly unraveled. Therapy. As she yanked her jaw clenched, her pulls became purposeful and deliberate. It was a relatively light atmosphere, as we all watched her tug. We joked and laughed, though we collectively knew it had to be done. I'm no therapist, and I don't know if this little exercise would be sanctioned, but it seemed to help. It was so symbolic of that dead friendship. Karlee had put in so much careful and thoughtful work and it all just came undone.

Now it was her turn to do some damage.

I Can See Right Through You...

30

Happy Birthday to Me! My present from D arrived this morning and I couldn't be happier! Well, maybe if he & I were in the same time-zone...



(Thanks for the cupcakes Gloria!)