Cookies and Darts and Cold, Oh My!

I'm a terrible blogger.

I promise to be better.  Even when stupid work and life get in the way of my precious blogging time.

But this is the 100th blog post, so Happy 100, Blog!

Updates:

We had a fabulous time in Pittsburgh.  I have bunch of side stories, but here are the highlights: I totally rocked the bake-off (although Amy did make a good showing).  I made my famous banana bread with a streusel topping, Peanutbutter Bombs as my cookie entry and classic Whoopie Pies.  It was the first time for the Whoopie Pies and they were awesome.  Recipes will begin to be posted in the Cookie Princess blog tomorrow (yup, Kate--that's a promise).

Gooey but delicious

Our Dart Battle Royale was hilarious.  In the past we'd done teams, but this one was really an every man for himself situation.  There were some alliances, but at one point my niece, Elyse, encouraged anarchy.  When little Abi said, "I thought you were on my team," Elyse responded, "There are no teams!"  Hilarious.

Dave & Nate using the "I'll just sit here and shoot whoever I can see" strategy

JR is street, yo

Aidan decided the tree-stand method might be the best attack mode

We even gave my mom a little single shot Derringer-style dart gun.  She had to wait until someone else hit her to reload though.

But the best is the machine gun.  And the fact that my 4-year-old niece took control of that beast immediately.  She couldn't reload it though, so she would hand it to one of the grown-ups (usually Grandpap) and then go around collecting all the ammo.  The gun only held 20 darts, but she would pick up like 50 and bring them all to my dad.  The nice thing about being little was she could go into the battle zone to pick up ammo and rarely got shot.

Power Up

Unloading on Uncle J

Oh, and the Steelers won that weekend.  Also awesome.  Then the Jets beat the Patriots (can't say I'm sad about that).  Then last weekend, the Steelers beat the Jets and now they're going to the Super Bowl.  I'm totally stoked.

Yes we're wearing the same shirt.  No that wasn't planned.  Yes we're awesome.

But then I found out I was living in the arctic.  Seriously, I thought I was going to see penguins outside.  This was the temperature when I went to bed on Sunday night.

And this was when I woke up on Monday morning.

Seriously?  It never got above 0 on Monday.  That's absurd.  So since I really can't complain about the snow (even though we're having storms of 6-10 inches twice a week), I won't hesitate to complain about the cold.  Freakin' cold.  Ug.

Bake Off and Dart Battle

This weekend Dave and I are headed to Pittsburgh to visit my parents.  JR will be there with his daughter and Amy is coming with her family.  It'll be a fun time. 

What's that?  You remember a bake off challenge posed to my sister and I, instigated by my brother?  Why yes, this would be the opportunity to settle the score.  I'm not sure what we're calling it--Baker Death Match seems a little extreme.  but we will have three rounds (cookies, banana bread and baker's choice dessert).

We decided JR had to come up with judging criteria and a scoring sheet since he started all this.  He responded that he would and the judging would consist of all factors, including bribery.  Lucky for me I had already planned on giving Elyse my old laptop.

I'm so winning this bake off.

Additionally, we have a bit of a Nerf dart gun challenge to settle.  I think we have about 300 rounds of ammo and some sort of Nerf blaster for each of us (my parents included).  We had one of these battles last Christmas (2009).  In November 2010, my dad found more rogue darts around the living room.

This isn't the exact one I have, but it's a rotating canister.
And safety glasses?  Really?

Perhaps we should have the bake off after the Nerf challenge.  Between being hopped up on sugar and the possibility of Amy gunning for me from kicking her butt, I may not survive.

And the answer is yes, the adults absolutely have more fun than the kids.

Why I Can't Complain

For the record, I know I really can't complain too much about the snow. I mean, I do live in New England, so I've been very lucky that the snowfall has been abnormally low lately.  And at least I live on a street that gets plowed no less than three times an hour during a storm (and sometimes when there's no snow at all--but that's only because the truck depot is down the street from us).

My friend Kate grew up in upstate New York and lived in Boston and central Pennsylvania for a while before she vowed that she was moving south because she hated the winter weather.  So she settled in North Carolina.  Good right?  Poor thing has seen more snow than I have in the last two years, and the kicker is that even though she's used to it, I'm sure it's worse for her there.  Because they don't have snow plows and rock salt and drivers that know not to keep their foot on the gas even when they are sliding down an icy road so their tires don't explode and set their car on fire.  So I really can't complain, because while we ended up with over 15 inches from this storm, I survived because I have a secret weapon.  Well, two secret weapons, really.

I have a husband who grew up in New England and knows all about managing in a snowstorm.  And he has this:

Oh yeah.  Go ahead and drool, Southern Snowbunnies.  This is actually our first full season with this bad boy.  Dave had a smaller one that he'd rebuilt so it would work again.  And then when it started to fail again, his dad gave us his snow blower because they get their driveway plowed and no longer need it.  So we're thrilled to have it.

DON'T stick your hand in there!

When Dave got back from snowboarding, he had his work cut out for him.  Even the tire tracks and spot where the Jeep had been before he left were completely recovered in snow. You'd have never know a car had been there for half of the snowfall.




Dave actually had to shovel to get to the snowblower.  But he made it and unlike the old snowblower, it started up right away, blowing the fluffy white flakes out of the way.



See the little pointy part?  I think my gnome is under there somewhere.

 I had to take a little video to show the wind and everything.  All you can hear is the roar of the snowblower engine, so speakers probably aren't necessary.

Dave decided to wear his snowboarding goggles while clearing the driveway, which was actually a really good idea.  It took him a little longer to finish since the wind kept bring the snow back to him.

So yes, I realize that I can't complain.  And my heart goes out to everyone living somewhere that is unprepared or has to cancel school because there's an inch of snow (really?).  Stay warm and be safe!

Snow Day!

One would think, living in New England, that I would be used to the snow and that it's standard practice to have big snowstorms every week in the winter.  However, that would be wrong.  At least for this year.  And most of last year too.

Last winter we were very lucky, only getting one "big" snow/icy storm in early December, and the rest being just a few inches.  We actually had very little snow, comparative to other years, during the 2009-2010 season.

So when they predicted a huge storm to hit us the day after Christmas, we braced to wake up to 14 inches.  Except we didn't.  Other areas around Massachusetts got hit pretty hard, but it seems the storm system had a giant hole in it, directly above our county and we woke up to about 4 inches.  And much of that snow drifted due to high winds, so there were several areas of our lawn where we could see the grass.

My theory was, add 6 inches to the next storm for every storm we skate past.  I just had a feeling we were going to get walloped.  So last weekend when they predicted snow to start on Friday and go through Saturday night, we braced again for the 8-12 inches they were calling for.  Even though by Saturday night, only a dusting covered our cars.  Sunday morning, we woke up to less than that.

Crap, we're going to get hammered.

I was pleasantly shocked yesterday to receive an official email from the Powers That Be stating only essential or critical employees should report to work today.  I've never been more prouod to be neither essential nor critical.  The catch was that I needed to work from home, but I was totally stoked.  I will absolutely check email and make appointments in my jammies.  Any day.  The best part was, the storm didn't even start until about 2 am, so the potential existed for yet another bust.

My current view--the neighbor's snowcovered cars

No such luck.  Apparently third times a charm and I've been watching the snow come down nonstop, mostly heavy, since I woke up.  I actually have been working (and been very productive).  We're nearing a foot of snow, and are right on the cusp of the 10-15 inch zone and the 15-20 inch zone.  So we'll see.  There is no end in sight--the forecasters aren't really sure when it will stop and I'm not sure that I'd believe them anyway. 

Our driveway. The hole is where Dave's Jeep used to be.

There is still snow in the driveway and my car is covered.  Dave, on the other hand, saw this as the perfect opportunity to go snowboarding.  He shovelled just enough to get to his Jeep and cleared off the snow.  And because he's Dave and his Jeep is ridiculous, he just drove through the snowbank at the end of our driveway and off he went.

Our deck. Notice the extra gas tank for the grill that is nearly overtaken by snow.

I like how I'm warm and cozy (and still in PJs),
but three of the neighbors across the street are shovelling snow.  Oops.

Our side door.  There is an awning over this door and still the snow has come up over the threshold.
Oh, and Dave shoveled off just about this much when he went out.

He just called to tell me he'll probably be home soon. Boy is he going to be tired after he gets all that snow of the driveway.

Again, there is an awning here.  The snow is blowing so much, it's stuck to the door. 
Notice how Dave was so excited to go snowboarding, he didn't shut the gate.

Rondo Adopted!

We are thrilled to announce that on Friday we took Rondo to his forever home.

He'd met Tyson a week before and after some misunderstandings with another All Dog Rescue volunteer, Tyson's had his home visit and completed the approval process for adopting Rondo.  We'd told him he was going to his new home on Thursday, and we think he understood. He looked a little sad going to bed on Thursday night, like he knew we wouldn't be tucking him in the next night.

Yes, we tucked him in at night.  It was the only way we could get him to stay on his bed whenever we would walk toward the door to leave.  He loves being around people so much that he didn't understand that he sleeps his room and we sleep in ours.  Big deal, we spoiled yet another dog.  There are worse things we could have taught him.

On Friday I worked from home and then we took Rondo to Tyson's house, which is perfect for him.  Tyson was very prepared, having set up water, a blanket, and lining up all kinds of toys for Rondo to have.  We'd brought all of Rondo's toys with us too, since he'd managed to tear into each of them, making them no fun for any other dog that comes along.  Well, he didn't rip into his fluffy man, but that was from Santa, so of course he got to keep that.

One toy was this stuffed lobster squeak toy with ropes for legs that neither Chiquita or Rondo had shown any compelling interest.  It lived in Rondo's room and rarely was sniffed or touched.  I'd mentioned to Dave that I guess it would be available for the next foster dog, since there was no sense sending it with Rondo since he didn't like it.  While I was working in the office/Rondo's room  on Friday, Rondo picked it up and took it to his blanket.  I said to Dave, "Watch--he didn't touch that thing for 5 weeks and I bet he rips it apart just so he can take it with him."  Sure enough, about 30 minutes later, I look over and the poor  lobster was missing an eye, crying fluffy white stuffing from where his eye used to be.

Apparently this dog understands more than we thought.

He wasn't great in the car--insisting on riding in the back seat instead of the tailgate of the Jeep.  But since Tyson drives a two-seater BMW, it was futile to fight it. 

We are positive that Rondo will be well taken care of in his new home. He has a fenced in yard to play in, a room of his very own again, and a person to look after him and continue teaching him how to be a good dog.  We're so glad to have gotten a chance to save him, since without us he probably wouldn't have been around for Thanksgiving, and now he's starting a new year with a wonderful life ahead of him.

Projects and Gifts

It's been a long while since I talked about my crochet projects,but I have good reason.  Everything that I've made in the past few months was a Christmas gift and of course I wanted to keep them a surprise.

It started in September when I decided I would make my nieces and nephew blankets.  I started with Elyse's and finished it it about 3 weeks.  Except for the edges, which I did the week before Christmas. Just in time to wrap and ship it.  But I digress.  I didn't use a particular pattern--I just decided to use a stitch I liked and consulted a few patterns for an estimate on number of stitches to get roughly the size I wanted.  After taking only 3 weeks to finish a pretty big blanket, I thought, "That was easy, of course I have time to do one for Aidan and one for Abi."  Oh what a silly girl I am some times. 

First I struggled with getting the yarn I wanted.  It was only available online and then I had an issue with the website showing one price, but charging me another (higher) price, so I had to call and get that sorted out.  It was relatively painless, but nonetheless took some time. 

And then cookie season started and most of my time usually spent in front of the TV (perfect crochet time #1) was spent baking.  Additionally, since these blankets were pretty big, I couldn't very well do them on the train (perfect crochet time #2).  But I worked and worked, and by mid-December, I had all three blankets complete, except for the edges and tying in the ends.

I had the brilliant idea that I would use the cute, fuzzy fun fur yarn to do the edges on Elyse and Abi's blankets.  It would be adorable and they would love it.  Now, a few years ago, my mom had made me a scarf using that kind of yarn and had told me it was a labor of love because it was a pain to work with.  Not that I didn't believe her, but holy crap.  That stuff it just awful for crocheting. A friend tells me it's better for knitting, so I won't completely dismiss it as a medium in general.  And I bought 4 skeins of it.  Want to know how much I used?  One and quarter skeins.  So of course I will suffer through making something else using it because I'll hate to see it go to waste.  After completing the edging on Elyse's blanket and starting on Abi's, concerned about being done in time to wrap and ship, I looked at Dave and said, "Next September, when I say I want to make all the kids sweaters for Christmas, I give you full permission to punch me in the face."

Elyse's blanket

So I was a little ambitious, but it was totally worth it.  After using every bit of spare time I could find, three beautiful blankets were wrapped, each with a book, perfect for snuggling.

Aidan's blanket

Abi's blanket

My sister let Abi and Aidan open theirs as soon as they arrived (a few days before Christmas), so I was treated to a chorus of thank yous for their "wubbies."  I did use an actual pattern for Abi's, using it as an opportunity to learn something new.  Abi's blanket was a free pattern from Lion Brand Yarn, Child's Chevron Throw (pattern # 80787AD).  Instead of using 6 colors, though, I just used 2 and ran the dropped yarn up the side.

But wait, there's more!  I had to have something to do on the train.  So a BUNCH of people got scarves.  I made popcorn scarves, crossed double scarves and lots of curly ruffled scarves.  They were pretty fun and I gifted them to friends, Dave's family and my cousins.

Ruffle scarves for friends

Diagonal scarf for my cousin. I also made a pink one that looked more like camo.

Crossed double scarves for Stacy and Jo.  I also made one in cream wool for Madaline.

Popcorn scarves for Annette and Donna.

Popcorn detail.

I made a few other ruffled scarves, but forgot to take pictures. And I made myself a simple scarf out of lavender bamboo yarn that feels like silk.  It took me about one evening while watching Dave play video games.

Finally, as my gifts were completed (and so were the cookies), I found I wanted to keep making things.  So I went back to my charity projects and decided to check in on the Special Olympics scarves.  The good news is that instead of just being a project for the Washington State Special Olympics, the national Special Olympics organization has picked up the project.  The bad news is that they changed the colors from red and white to two shades of blue.  Which means all the scarves I already made can't be donated to them.  So, if you know of any charity organizations where I could send between 6-10 scarves, please leave me a comment!  I'm on the hunt for new charities and would welcome any ideas.

Happy New Year!

Oops.  I took a hiatus.  And I liked it.

I love working in education because of the winter recess that gives me at least a week off at Christmas and New Year's without me having to take extra vacation days.  Although I did work from home one day and took a half day to have a complete 12 days at home.  And it was luxurious. 

So, I guess I'll bring you up to speed on the last few weeks and then we can start with new stuff later.  And I'll try to not leave you for so long without at least giving you fair warning.  Ok?

Dave and I put up our little Christmas tree and had a pretty festive holiday.  And a well behaved Rondo didn't disturb it at all.  He never bothered the gifts or the decorations. 

Dave did lots of lights outside on the house, but I don't have a picture.  We were hoping to get a nice snow-covered lights picture after the snow storm, but the 14-20 inches they predicted ended up only being about 4 inches for us, because the storm system had a huge hole right over our county.  It was a little ridiculous.  And then the winds blew so much that we had drifts of 6 inches in one half of the lawn and bare grass on the other. 

Christmas Eve we were invited to have dinner with our friends, Stacy and Don, as they had a dinner party for their family.  It was a nice evening with friends and we definitely ate too much.  But that didn't stop us from going home and snuggling up with hot chocolate and cookies and watching Christmas specials.  Although Dave wouldn't let me open my Christmas gifts until Christmas morning.  We spent Christmas Day with my in-laws and it was really nice.  We had dinner, exchanged gifts, and just enjoyed the company.

Dave and I exchanged Christmas stockings, but decided not to do presents this year.  This was in part to our tighter budget and in part to us recently trading in our Wii for a PlayStation 3 with the Move system.  We traded in the game system, all the controllers and games, used gift cards and store credit Dave earned from doing surveys and ended up with a brand new PlayStation 3, the Move system, extra controllers and 4 games for less than $24.  No, that's not a typo.  So of course, the day after Christmas, we headed back to GameStop to get some more games to keep us occupied during the holiday break.  Dave got a racing game that I actually don't mind watching him play and I got Little Big Planet.  I love it and I'm totally addicted.  Not that it's a hard game, but in the week we've had it, I've almost finished the game.  I just can't stop playing.  I'll turn off the system and then 15 minutes later, I'm back at it.  And I found out that Little Big Planet 2 comes out in a few weeks.  Cannot wait.

I spent a few days down with a cold, and I may or may not have used that as an excuse to spend at least half of every day on the couch in stretchy yoga pants or pajamas.  And I couldn't have been happier.  The four or five pounds I put on don't really matter--I'm sure once I stop eating crap and start working out again (which is on the agenda for tonight), those will come right off.  The break was so relaxing and stress-free that I really don't care that my jeans are close to snug.  Totally worth it.

We did go cross-country skiing one day.  It was great to be outdoors and playing in the snow.  We went to Windblown, which is about 30 minutes from our house.  The trails were great and the glittery snow was perfect for a late-morning/early-afternoon outing.  It's been almost 2 years since we'd been out since Dave was broken last winter and couldn't do any outdoor activities.  The fall tally was 4 for me and 1 for Dave, although I contest the fourth fall since I was standing perfectly still and stopped.  I went to look at my watch and without warning, I crashed down (hard) on my butt.  The first three falls I'll own--I have a hard time turning or stopping, so I just aim for the soft, fluffy snow and usually end up doing a face plant.  But I love it, so I'm looking forward to going out again soon.

Rondo has some good news too.  He had two applications come in and it looks like he might get adopted in the next week or so.  The first application was for a family with three kids and another dog.  It seemed like a reasonable match, but maybe a little too active for him.  We were willing for the whole family to meet with Rondo, but unfortunately we weren't able to get in touch with them to make the arrangements.  In the meantime, a single guy applied for him, excited about adopting a bigger dog and looking for a buddy.  Tyson loved Rondo right away and impressed us by asking all the right questions and expressing appropriate concerns or suggesting solutions to potential difficulties.  After checking with Tyson's references, we have another volunteer who will do a home visit this week, so hopefully Rondo will have a new floor to snuggle up on by the weekend.  We're sure the home visit will go well since one of Tyson's references told us that when he was house hunting, one of the top priorities was having space for a dog.

And here we are in 2011.  We had friends over for New Year's Eve--ate, drank, and played some games.  Cindy and Keith came over for dinner and Stacy and Don came over later in the evening.  Unfortunately no one stayed to watch the ball drop.  It was a late night and a long week for them, so that's ok.  Cindy had to work the next morning, and Stacy was coming down with a cold.  And it was kind of nice for us to be able to change into pajamas and curl up on the couch with our champagne for the countdown.

New Year's Day we invited my in-laws over and I cooked (with Dave's help) a pretty good meal.  I made pork tenderloin and sauerkraut in the slow cooker, baked butternut squash fries, buttered egg noodles, and a tossed salad, which Dave grilled another pork tenderloin that had been marinating in a roasted apple glaze.  And again, we ate too much.

A little (big?) part of me wanted to stay on vacation, but being back into a routine isn't so bad.  I'm not sure what 2011 will bring, but here's hoping it's a new job for my husband, more time with friends and family, and happiness and health for everyone.