Who Am I?

Thoughts I'm willing to share.

Monday, November 24, 2003

So.....

So, it's cold. I do LOVE the way burning dust smells when you first turn your heater on- call me crazy.
So, we're back from our cruise- it sucks- we wish we could go back to the boat.
So, Doug's van is a total piece of crap. Why is it that an '85 Honda Prelude can go 170,000 miles plus with little problem and an '89 Plymoth can only go 65,000 miles before it is completely useless. We love Hondas and there is a good reason for it. We are thankful that Tom and Celia have agreed to let us use their truck indefinately. It's a Toyota, 165,000 miles. Interesting.
So, we've started on our backyard. The kids are very excited and we all spent a lot of time looking out the window today at the men who were breaking their backs pouring, flattening, etc... our MASSIVE amounts of concrete. The kids should be able to play on it by Thanksgiving-that will be a fun day.
So, the car stereo in our Odyssey (Honda) has an anti-theft option. Whatever. The way it works is, if it is disconnected from the car OR if the battery in your car drains (which ours did while we were out of town) the stereo no longer works. Okay. To get it to work again..... you have to have the "secret code" which you have to get from a Honda dealership. This happened to us about a year and a half ago. We got the code. I wrote it in two separate places. I can't find it now. So, we will apparently have to drive across town to the nearest Honda dealership to get the code again. I think I would mind it less if someone actually stole my stereo because it worked than to have to deal with this because the battery died. What are the chances that someone is actually going to steal the stereo from a used mini van that looks more like a station wagon???? 10% MAYBE. Our van doesn't look like it has a nice stereo and as far as I know-it doesn't. That's a lot of wasted energy and resources.
So, two more days until Thanksgiving. Awesome! Family, stuffing, football, stuffing, parades, stuffing, free range turkey, stuffing, sparkling cider, and don't forget the best part- stuffing!
even as a kid I liked stuffing the best! Yum!
So, enjoy your stuffing day!

Sunday, November 16, 2003

Hello,
We're cruisin' in the Pacific right now. We're enjoying ourselves lots! We just came from the midnight buffet- yum! We shopped, took a nap, and saw a show today. See you all soon.

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

Ketchup Blog

Actually Catch Up. I was trying to be cute. So, I feel like an awful blogger- over a week since my last blog. I've read blogs in that time, but didn't take the time to actually blog myself.
What's up?
I'm LOVIN' the weather.
Doug and I are leaving on Friday for a three day cruise. It was supposed to be for our tenth wedding anniversary- LAST January. We didn't make it. So we were going to try to do a trip for our eleventh wedding anniversary-this coming up January- Surprise- we'll be having a baby in January. I AM excited about going, but right now, I am overcast with What ifs? and Wouldn't it be horrible ifs? I am such a pessimist even though I try hard not to be.
In spite of my pessimism, I am looking forward to a couple of days with Doug alone and at least one NAP! I think you're old when you want to go on vacation to take a nap.
We are still making Thanksgiving plans, I'm not quite sure how it's going to work out geographically, but we will be with people who love us and I do enjoy any holiday anyway.
The day after Thanksgiving, we will not be shopping, we will be driving to central Nevada to murder...urr... take life....urr.... cut down our very own Christmas tree. I know it's bad for the environment or whatever. I see the points. I understand. My hat is off to anyone who buys a living Christmas tree and plants it in their yard. If they came 6-8 feet tall for $3, I would buy one myself. However, being the holiday nerd that I am, I LOVE driving all day to the middle of no where; hunting in the freezing cold with my family for a tree; finally choosing the least whack one and watching Doug cut it down; haul it to the truck; tie it in; and laughing most of the time. We have GREAT Christmas tree stories that you can never get from a Christmas tree lot OR from the box in your garage. We've had two trees in one year; we've had a tree so big that you couldn't even see the truck, much less the license plate as the truck was driving down the road. We have hours of Christmas carols and "car talking", which I LOVE. Put me in a car for hours and I transform into an extrovert. We are going with some friends that we really don't get to spend a lot of time with anymore and I am looking forward to going.
Then, the Christmas season. I am trying to get ready. My mom printed me the "FlyLady Holiday Planner' from the internet. I love the idea of it. Have I actually used it? No. Fifteen minutes a day in November and you're ready for Christmas on December 1. It sounds good. I have done a few things, but I don't know if they are the things I was supposed to do. Maybe I should still attempt to use it.
Emma told me that she doesn't like kindergarten because I always ask her about it. I sensed this was a problem for her, but she just came right out and said it. So, I'm trying to lay off. It's hard. I'm just talking about her day, but she likes having something that's her own. I think I'm going to make Doug ask her and see if he gets the same results.
Tonight Emma's homework was to collage a paper turkey. It was fun. It came out cute. Today for playgroup we made paper bag turkeys. They also came out cute despite my lack of planning and proper materials. Have I mentioned that I like holidays? I do. Celebrate life. Celebrate seasons. Celebrate- a uniquely human event. Holidays remind us to celebrate the things we take for granted daily: family, friends, freedom, wealth, food, milestones, art, talent, faith...... Seasons remind us to celebrate our lives- they are uncertain, they are always changing (except in Las Vegas), they are time that passes quickly. I hope you can enjoy the rain (despite car accidents); enjoy the cold; enjoy the paper turkeys; enjoy the crowded stores; enjoy spending money on people you care enough to spend money on; enjoy working in the kitchen for people who act like they only care about football; enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.

Monday, November 03, 2003

Heidi was Right

So, it's cold outside. About as cold as it's going to get in November. I wore a sweater today in Las Vegas. Heidi said it would be cold on Halloween- she was right. The kids toughed it out for Trick or Treating. They were well rewarded.
I am SO Clark Griswold. I carved a pumpkin and loved it. I couldn't wait to change the decorations for Thanksgiving. I am already making plans for house and family for the upcoming holidays. That's right plural. If you go in any store you would think there is only one holiday coming up- Christmas. What happened to Thanksgiving? Kelly keeps calling it the forgotton holiday and it certainly is. I don't have that many Thanksgiving decorations, so I decided to buy some. Guess what? I can't find any. The stores are plastered with Christmas stuff. Where are all the Turkeys, Indians, Pilgrims, Cornucopias??? Thanksgiving- That's a "Christian" quality right? I was at the Family bookstore, so I asked the clerk if they had any Thanksgiving videos for my kids. He looked at me like I was insane, like what the heck would anybody ever do with a Thanksgiving video? Does that mean the VeggieTales doesn't have a Thanksgiving Video? I think it is an important holiday. According to Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving- the United States was the first country to dedicate a day to giving thanks. Really? Well, we sure aren't giving thanks in 2003. We're too busy planning Christmas, deciding what to ask for, and buying presents to be thankful for what we already have and how we're going to pay for the gifts we want to give others. I want to make Thanksgiving memorable for my children. I want them to be thankful. I want them to realize that there is actually a holiday between "Get Free Candy Day" and "What are you gonna buy me Day". I decided to buy a magazine to get some craft ideas for my kids to aid in my celebration of the "forgotten holiday". There aren't any magazines. The magazines all have Christmas ideas plastered all over the covers except for .......at the very bottom...... "A Stress Free Thanksgiving" article. What????? Stress Free... according to our culture there is nothing to stress about. There isn't even a holiday that has any meaning except food and football. (I know I'm ranting, but I got the weather I wanted, so I've moved on to something else that I can complain about.) Anyway, if you have any great Thanksgiving ideas for my family or our community, please feel free to email me at dcitizen@cox.net.