The Christmas tree story

Here is our Christmas tree story.

When we were looking at houses, we came to this house (the house we eventually bought) with our realtor. The front room has vaulted ceilings, and one of the first things she said was, "You could have the mother of all Christmas trees in here!" I really liked the house already, but that about sealed the deal. So our master plan was to wait until after Christmas and then buy a 9' or a 12' Christmas tree on super-clearance. But then....

Last May we were at a community yard sale (man, how I love those!) and walked by this guy setting up a Christmas tree in order to sell it. It looked pretty big...yes indeed, it was a 12' Christmas tree! Going for only $30! Too good to pass by. So we bought it and loaded up our 12' Christmas tree in our little Saturn. That car is like Mary Poppins' magic carpet bag - you wouldn't believe all the stuff we have hauled in that little car.

I didn't think about this until later, but it is not a pre-lit Christmas tree. And it came in a cardboard box, so we have had a hard time finding an appropriate container to store it in. But minor hitches for such a great deal and an enormous Christmas tree.

Sunday night we thought we would quickly put together our Christmas tree just to see how it would fit in this room. Well, we are not as smart as we look and it took us 2 days to put the thing together. Without the lights. So after so much effort, we decided it wasn't worth taking it back down again only to put it up next week on Thanksgiving. So even though it is quite early (even for me), we are getting ready for Christmas. So here is a picture of our 12' Christmas tree as it is now, without the branches fixed up and without any lights. This will be fun, we will do a Christmas tree transformation series of shots.

Thanksgiving is around the corner

I realized yesterday that Thanksgiving is practically here and I have yet to nail down our plans for the day. I think I will be cooking here, with possibly some friends coming to share dinner with us. I made a great turkey last year (if I do say so myself) and am looking forward to giving it another try this year. Last year I rubbed it down with olive oil and sage, put stuffing (much to Alton Brown's dismay) and an onion inside, garlic cloves under the skin with onions, carrots and celery in the bag with the turkey. Man, it makes me hungry just thinking about it. Pepperidge Farm stuffing is my favorite. And I will admit to eating the stuffing that was cooked INSIDE the turkey. I like to live on the edge. In Bloomington you could buy a fresh, organic turkey (can meat fall in the organic category?) from Bloomingfoods, but I haven't yet found a place like that up here. I suppose I don't care much about the organic part, but I think a fresh, never frozen turkey would sure be good.

We had such a cozy morning this morning. Due to Stake Conference, we didn't have church until 11:00 am and Jer didn't have any early morning meetings. It was stormy so we stayed in our house listening to the rain, had a leisurely breakfast with peppermint tea.

We started putting up our Christmas tree this evening. The story of our new (artificial) Christmas tree is a long one, so I may have to save it til tomorrow as it is getting late for me. And I don't have pictures of it yet either. So stay tuned.

Okay, I am going to try to add my first You Tube video. Because for some reason I'm a little obsessed with James Taylor this week. So here is the Jellyman Kelly Sesame Street segment with James Taylor.

We are slowly adjusting to daylight savings time. I miss the days when Indiana didn't participate in daylight savings.

Boo is learning new words and signs every week. Today Jer taught her to say 'ball'. For some kids, that is one of their first words. But she had kind of interesting first words like 'sock' and 'wow'. My favorite sign that she does is 'thank you' (she learned that on Halloween). Oh, and she will sing 'ee-i-ee-i-oh' with me. I love that!

Her hair is long enough now to put in two pigtails. I took this picture the other day when we were outside raking leaves. I sent this picture to my mom and she said, "What happened to your baby? This is a little girl!" Too true, and a little sad. But I love all the new things she does everyday.



Jer's dad is coming for a couple of days this weekend. It's been about a year since we have seen him, so it will be nice for him to play with Boo and see how grown up she is.
Boo and I were at the bookstore earlier this week and I found a sequel to "Llama llama red pajama", one of Boo's favorite books. I really enjoy it too, and it's a good thing because we read it several times a day. A few months ago Boo went through a phase in which she would choose a book and want it to be read over and over and over again. I decided that three read throughs was my limit, and then the book 'disappeared' and she would have to get a new one. There were about 4 books that she always chose, so those are the four books I have memorized. :) But I digress. At B&N we found a sequel called "Llama llama mad at mama". I read through it and it is another very cute picture book.

Online Radio

When I worked at the hospital I loved to listen to beethoven.com. A year or two ago Peter O. introduced me to Pandora. With Pandora, you select an artist or a song and then Pandora selects music similar to that to play on your 'station'. You can give a thumbs up or down to each song that is played, and Pandora adjusts what it plays on your station according to what you like. It's great because you can create multiple stations. I listened to it for awhile, but then forgot about it. Becca got me started on a great new Pandora station. I started with "Carpenters, holiday", and have gotten a great Christmas music station with Dean Martin, Bing Crosby, Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, and of course The Carpenters. What, you say it is too early for Christmas music? Nonsense.

There is a James Taylor Christmas song on now. Did you know that I love James Taylor? I love his voice, I love his songs, I love his guitar, I love his bald head. I was pleasantly surprised one summer evening to hear him on A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keeler. Have you ever seen the Sesame Street segment he did back in the 70's or 80's. Priceless! Click on the picture below and listen to track 14 of Disc 1. It's only part of the song, but very cute.

Books v. Hardware

When we moved into our brand new house almost 18 months ago, I thought it was so great that we had THREE enormous hardware stores so near our home. We spent a lot of time at hardware stores as we worked on our lawn and our home. In the spring and summer, Boo and I would roam the aisles of a hardware store, imagining how landscaping bricks and bushes would look in our yard, and debating the color of paint for the kitchen.

But apparently living near so many hardware stores comes at a price. No major bookstores. :( There was a Borders about 25 minutes away, and that was it. Until today! Barnes and Noble opened it's doors today at the Greenwood Mall! Boo and I had a great time there today. AND they had stacks and stacks of the elusive Deceptively Delicious. I took just a few minutes to leaf through it, and it looks like a great book that I think I will put on my Christmas list. I was happy to finally have a chance to look at it (I have dropped from #169 to #77 on the waiting list at the library). Ok, so maybe the new B&N isn't much closer to my house than the old Borders, but I will confess to being a B&N snob. I couldn't tell you why I like B&N so much better, only that I do. The summer I lived in Chicago I would go sight seeing and then visit the nearest B&N. It was amazing that there was always one nearby. I think I read entire books that way...

I love November

I think my favorite month might be November. It was another beautiful autumn day today - sunny and crisp. Boo and I were out running errands in our cozy sweaters. As I drove home I noticed how much I love the trees at this stage...with some leaves on the ground, some bare branches, and some vibrant leaves still on the trees.

Two recommendations

Jeremy and I have been reading The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin. A great read about the current (and recently retired) justices and what goes on behind the scenes. It's very interesting to read about the personalities of the justices and the interactions between them. I haven't read much of it yet, but it starts out with a fascinating account of the case intended to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Ok, one more review. I recently finished reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. Thanks to Elizabeth for loaning it to me. I loved it, couldn't put it down. I was a little dissatisfied with the very end (I wanted a little more confession of undying love from both of them), but overall it was a great read.

Oh, great news - Barnes and Noble opens on Wednesday!

Laundry day is a lucky day

Yesterday was laundry day, usually not that interesting of a day. But as I pulled the clothes out from the hamper, I found all kinds of treasures that Boo had hidden away with the dirty clothes...toothpaste, a small mirror, bath toys, chapstick, blocks, deodorant, lotion, some business cards. I had missed several of these items during the week, but just assumed we had used them up, or they had migrated to the other bathroom. Now that we know things migrate to the hamper we will know where to look next time.

Learning to talk

I love that Boo is learning to communicate with us. She learns about two signs a week. She learned 'thank you' this week (yay, just in time for trick or treating). She will sign eat, more, milk, shoes, dog, please, thank you. She will say 'water', 'socks', 'night night', 'daddy'.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

We started with a kid party at Heather's house this morning. There were a lot of toddlers about Boo's age, and a lot of treats. I got a plate of snacks for Boo and sat down let her pick a few off the plate and suddenly I was surrounded by toddlers. I got the food, and then I got the friends. :) There were a few plates of snacks down low around the room - a plate of goldfish, a plate of cheerios. Gabe and Boo loved to go around the room, dump snack onto the floor and then eat it off the floor. Cute little heathens.

Tired out from the party

Boo has carried her trick or treat bag around all week. I let her carry her treats from the trunk or treat around in it for awhile...until she figured out how to get into the chocolate. That was a little too messy, so they had to go. But that was ok, she found plenty of other things to put in there instead.

This evening we went trick or treating. Boo loved getting treats in her bag. We started with our neighbors across the street - they were so sweet and each gave her several treats for her bag. She was so tickled...and spoiled. After that one treat per house wasn't enough, she expected more!

We drove to our other trick or treat houses - the Holts, Julie's (J's coworker), and Garysons. Garyson's were our last stop. They had great decorations - a cemetary, ghosts, spiders and webs. And even better treats - homemade root beer and homemade donuts.

We all had a great Halloween, and already looking forward to next year.

A new stake in Indy

Today in church we had an announcement that they will be creating a new stake in Indianapolis at our Stake Conference in a couple of weeks (a stake is basically a collection of congregations of our church that meets and works together in church things). Our ward (the congregation we go to church with each Sunday) has been shifted up to the north stake, which won't really affect our week to week activities, but will change the people that we meet with when we gather as a stake for activities a few times a year. This will be a big change for some people. Not so much for us, since we have not been here long. But it has started me thinking about change, and how it is hard to see things in life change. My dad says the only thing constant in life is change. For me it's really hard to believe that a change will be for the better, but it almost always is. Even if I don't see it immediately. I am very much a creature of habit, and even little changes can make me a little nuts. I am lucky to be married to J who is much better at taking things in stride and seeing things with a clear and broad perspective.

The potty monster

Well, we have created a potty monster. Let me tell you the whole story, lest you think we are overeager first time parents (stop laughing). One day a month or so ago we were getting Boo ready for her bath and sat her on the potty. She thought she was big stuff, and surprise of all surprises, actually went potty in the potty. Since she seemed so interested, we got her a potty seat. No harm in some pre-potty training, right? My plan was to teach her a sign for potty, let her sit on it occasionally, so when she was ready to potty train it would be that much easier. It turns out that Boo LOVES to sit on the potty. She learned the sign for potty in about two days, so whenever she is tired of what she is doing and wants to have some fun, she signs potty and grunts a little bit, and off we go to the potty. So in a way it is good that she continues to be interested in and like the potty, however she is kind of missing the point. Oh well, at least we are all having fun.

Trunk or Treat

We went to a bonfire and trunk or treat this evening. I was a little hesitant about going - we went last year and it was so cold. But tonight was perfect - there was a fall chill in the air, but not bad at all. The bonfire was great, there was face painting and a few games for the kids. Boo liked sitting at the face painting table, although she wasn't as keen on actually getting her face painted. She also had a great time toddling around in her ladybug costume. She adopted someone's trick or treat pumpkin and wandered around the meadow collecting leaves to put in her bucket.

And she loved the trick or treat part. Jer took her around, and it only took her about two tries to figure out that if she holds out her bag, she gets a treat dropped in. By the end she was so tickled with her bag full of treats. She held on to it all the way home, while she brushed her teeth, while we put her pj's on, and oh what a sad day it was when we took it away for bedtime.

Happy Birthday Dad

Happy Birthday Dad/Grandpa! We took this picture at the Anderson Mounds las October when Dad was here visiting. That's Boo (2 months) he's got in the baby bjorn. He loved to tote her around in that carrier.

Well, it has been a little bit of a slow day today, but Peter O. has had an exciting week in Switzerland. Here is a quote from the email I received from him Wednesday morning:

"The most exciting story of the week however occured or rather began as we were sleeping. We got robbed! It was probably the coolest thing ever. Except for the whole losing stuff thing."

He goes on to explain that when he woke up he noticed the bathroom window open, but didn't think much of it til he couldn't find his watch...or his wallet. His companion's entire bag was missing as well. So they started off for the police station. On foot because all their money and transportation passes were stolen. The temperature had dropped to 0 degrees C, so it was a long cold walk. But the next morning took a turn for the better - all of their things were turned in except for a watch and a camera.

Boo has kicked it up a notch and now runs everywhere she goes. Except for when she really wants to run away from me (like when she has my cell phone) she does a couple of run in place things before she can get going.

For fans of The Office, there is a big Office party in Scranton, PA this weekend.