11-30-11

Look who got new spectacles today. She likes the purple hearts on the side.

Hope she wears them more than the last pair. And Xander doesn’t even recall that he owns reading glasses… They don’t listen when I tell them that they can wear them some now or all the time very soon.

“Don't call the world dirty because you forgot to clean your glasses” – Aaron Hill

11-29-11

About half of the songs on K-LOVE today were Christmas songs. Our first Christmas card was waiting for us in the mail. I need to start wrapping gifts that need to be shipped. Wondering about scheduling cookie baking day. Our Christmas newsletter is written and the photos arrived today.

The season is upon us! Kristin and I had coffee together tonight, and we joked how we won’t be able to sit on the couch sipping cocoa on the couch until we’re about 80. I’m determined to have more time to be than do during the Advent season… one of these years!

“Come, they told me, pa ra pa pum pum.
A newborn king to see, pa ra pa pum bum.

Our finest gifts we bring, pa ra pa pum pum.

And said to give a king, pa ra pa pum pum.” – Little Drummer Boy, best Christmas song ever

11-28-11

Bruce was kind enough to wander around the house clicking prospective blog photos for me tonight. I’m vain enough to choose a photo of myself.

It reminds me of my eye doctor appointment this afternoon. First off, when I stop moving for a few minutes, realizing how weary my body is. Second off, how yucky it feels to flunk eye tests. They had to do the glaucoma air puff over and over and over, and they couldn’t use my peripheral vision test results. Third, yet another medical anomaly detected, yay…

"What the eye does not admire the heart does not desire." Proverb

11-27-11

Our day started with worship with 13 other Christians in a tiny tiny capital hill church and another round of Spam sliders, and ended with a long car ride home.

In between we celebrated another Thanksgiving meal. Xander was so great playing with his little cousins (Sam and Kayla pictured here). I love how they say his name as if they have a mouth full of marbles.

11-26-11

So who would have thought that I would feel really conspicuous in a red coat in downtown Seattle?!? As we started paying more attention, we realized that the city is a sea of black clothing.

“Nice coat, little miss red riding hood.” - street person trying to strike up a conversation.

Today we took the bus from our Queen Anne hotel to downtown, and slowly made our way back on foot, ending with a self tour of the new Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation complex. Next year it will be fun to explore the still-under-construction visitors center.

We walked Pike Place Market, Westlake Center, took in a movie (I’m embarrassed to say which one), and we ate our way through lunch, Starbucks, and a cupcake bakery. LOVE Seattle.

11-24-11

Here’s Bruce at Kiki Tap & Eatery on our Hip on the Hill culinary tour. I think of this as a yummy beef salad, but a true foodie would call it a beef in a cognac reduction Asian fusion small plate. What a great way to experience a place – trying out local eateries in a fun educational environment. Our tour guide Ezra covered architecture, music, coffee, and historical info. Food stops included coffee cupping and salted caramels, Barfi (Indian milk fudge) and chai tea (I like it!), spam sliders (I like this too!), pesto pizza, and frozen custard. Thumbs up!

We also got stuck weaving through the southcenter mall parking lot (to point and laugh at Black Friday shoppers, but jokes on us), drove by two of our prior residences, encountered Occupy Seattle movements, and laughed our heads off at Chopstix dueling piano bar.

11-23-11

Gobble, gobble! Bring on the cranberry sauce!

This photo seems fitting, because Xander has a knack for always being first in line at the buffet table, and Aunt Mo is always a blur of activity all day. I tried to start dishes while she was still eating, but nothing gets by her.

I always enjoy the calm quiet family time with the McNeil’s. This year we felt the absence of several, but Skype sessions brought smiles.

“The average American will consume more than 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving Day alone.” -Caloric Control Council.

11-23-11

Right back to the sugar!

No sugar November 1st through 22nd, lost 7.5 pounds to be in better shape going into the holiday eating season.

What I craved most was mochas and DQ brownie earthquake sundaes, so I indulged in both today. Yum!

Happy eating…

11-22-11

Happy vacation! I woke up this morning thinking I won’t have to set an alarm clock for five days!

Tonight was the high school band and orchestra concert. I enjoyed the eight minute long Indian song they played at the end and impromptu happy birthday for Mr. Klander was fun too. Where’s Waldo, can you find Anastasia peeking out?

Shhh, don’t tell, but our house is already decorated for Christmas. Our neighbor came over singing Christmas carols this evening.

11-21-11

Can you tell that my arms are swollen up? Big goose eggs where my allergy shots went wrong. Drat, that means more (smaller dose) shots in my future. Add to this a two and a half hour visit to the allergist, and Xander and I have accumulated seven new prescriptions. Hopefully this huge investment of time and money will start to pay off.

11-20-11

Baby it’s cold outside!

We left the house briefly midday for a mini adventure. We checked out a new restaurant & arcade in town, Minus Town. I felt funny ordering the Fatty Patty with a garden patty, and it struck to my ribs for hours, but it’s better than some fast food places. Then we went to Rainier for a one mile hike and geocaching trip. I foudn this one, but only because I was first on the scene. The trail was so full of leaves that it was hard to make out the route.

When the sun is shining I feel like I should be outside, but today I didn’t want to be out for very long!

11-19-11

I was going through 2011 photos today for a project I’m working on.

I realized that I’ve taken a lot of really fun photos this year.

I also realized that I’ve taken a lot of lame photos this month. I guess as I’ve been focusing on other things, my blog photo and photo taking in general have taken a back seat.

I also realized that I am seeing a lot more gray in Bruce’s hair. LOL!

11-18-11

TGIF!

Last weekend Xander and I sat together to see Footloose in the movie theater. Tonight Xander and I sat together to watch the play Grease in the high school theater. It was a fun production, even if I’m not familiar with the storyline.

Ready for a weekend of R&R!

11-17-11

One of the things that dawned on me at my last women’s retreat is that I need to relentlessly pursue simplicity.

I’ve touched everything in my craft room, trying to be honest with myself on whether I would really ever use it or not, and cleared out a bunch of stuff. I’m prepping Craigslist and e-bay ads to see if I can get a little bit of cash back on the bigger ticket items.

One of the things I have decided to part with is the heart chunk characters I painted in the early 90’s. I never change them for the seasons, they collect dust, and it’s just more stuff to manage, as much as I do like them. I can’t quite bring myself to throw them in the Goodwill box, but don’t think they are really worth anything either.

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” - Hans Hofman

11-16-11

I drove through town today at the start of a wind storm, and it looked like it was snowing yellow leaves. Everything was covered with a blanket of leaves, and they were coming down fast. It was so cool, but knew it would be hard ot capture on film. That’s my wanna-be photo of the day.

A few years ago we were running Anastasia downtown a few nights a week to the ballet studio. Now we are running the taxi service back to the same stomping grounds, but this time for driving school. A motorcyclist came and spoke to her class tonight.

“Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth.” ~Erma Bombeck

11-15-11

Ah, another half day vacation… only about 42 hours left to use or lose by year end.

Half days let me take my morning at a more leisurely pace, but it’s not enough time to feel the pressure of needing to accomplish anything – it’s perfect. Bruce and I walked the lake and got some funny looks as we tried to click photos of us and the lovely yellow trees.

It would sure be easier to avoid sugar if there weren’t Krispy Kreme donuts in the lunchroom and two-for-one Starbucks offers in my in-box!

11-14-11

This is my new alarm clock. It’s a very late birthday gift; I found a great deal on ebay. It has nature sounds, aromatherapy beads, and progressive lightening and darkening of the room. I don’t like the smell and noise, just the light. I hav eit turned sideways so I don' t have to look at the time.

Back to setting the alarm for Monday morning. But not tomorrow, because I have the morning off! (Then it will go off really early Wed & Thurs.) Bliss would be never needing to set an alarm clock, but given reality, I like my new one.

“Morning comes whether you set the alarm or not.” – Ursula K LeGuin

11-13-11

Now that we’ve been attending church Saturday nights and the weather has turned nasty, Sundays seem to turn into lazy days. Not that I’m complaining, I don’t seem to want to accomplish much.

Low light photo in the movie theater. I prefer to watch movies at home rather than in the theater, but I gave up my Netflix subscription and we have vouchers for free movie tickets, so I decided it would be fun to see the remade Footloose on the big screen.

I give the non-reclining chairs and tempting candy a thumbs down, but the movie a thumbs up. It was fun talking to Xander afterwards about all the similarities and differences from the first version.

11-12-11

I looked a lot of photos today (uploading & ordering pics for scrapbooking projects), but didn’t take many.

Hard to decide what to do with the rare gift of a day with no plans.
Our heat pump decided to make the most terrible noise… service call Monday, neighbors hating us until then.
We decided it was too wet and cold to play with pups at the pound today.
Meal decisions seem to be a big deal on the weekend – Azteca and pizza delivery today.
Xander decided that ordering a coffee drink with cayenne in it at Worship Cafe was a bad idea.

Anastasia got to drive in Drivers Ed this morning. And, her voice is gone form being sick, so she is using her phone to type us notes.

11-11-11

Happy Veterans Day! Happy 11.11.11! Happy Friday!

We ended up at Electric Bean for a benefit concert. I’m not sure why the band thinks louder is better, but it was interesting, and the guys got in a few games of chess. EB was giving free coffee drinks to veterans, cool beans!

"Numbers that are already significant to us, such as calendar dates that also coincidentally fall into an obvious pattern, become doubly significant," Lenzi said. "11/11/11 is another example of people doing what people are cognitively prone to do: find significance."

11-10-11

An evening of just hanging out for a change. I can take my cue from the kids, they have hanging out down to a science.

I watched a fairly good Christian flick called Grace card while I gave myself a mani and pedi. And did more on-line Christmas shopping.

See’s has orange cranberry truffles, doesn’t’ that sound good? A lot of things sound good – I am almost halfway through my self imposed denial of most things yummy.

11-09-11

Shame on me for not shopping locally, but hurray for me for keeping postal workers employed!

Three packages arrived just today, a result of last weekend’s on-line shopping spree. I want to turn on Christmas music and start wrapping the gifts, but that needs to wait for a few more weeks.

Happy shopping and shipping!

11-08-11

Not very inspired to do my blog tonight. Ran around and got stuff done in the early evening, but then felt pretty uninspired to do anything.

Spent some time hanging out with Bruce looking at election results and talking about upcoming plans. He snapped this photo of me right after that.

We were discussing whether our family really needed the new Call of Duty game. My view is that the guys waste too much time on video games. Bruce’s view is that the only point of time is to waste it.

11-07-11

We found out at 5:15pm tonight that there is a swimming awards ceremony tonight. Her coach thanked me for being gracious about the late notice, but I’m not sure if it was a backhanded comment, LOL!

Anastasia got her varsity letter, recognition for balancing a sport with a 4.0, and a speech form her coach about having lots of potential but also lots of distractions, and being a poster child freshman of the ups and downs of the first year of high school. We also got a spreadsheet of all her competition times for the season, which is much appreciated.

Dodged more sweets, made it through another Monday.

Photo explained: Anastasia hugging her coach as she got her letter, because “hand shakes are for buys.”

11-06-11

Our dining room table has been transformed into shoebox central.

We shopped Target, Big Lots & the Dollar Store together today, then stuffed them this evening. Anastasia and I each did four boxes, and the guys teamed up to fill four. We all stayed very close to budget and found fun and different things for the kids. The guys did so well on budget that they will need to do another shopping trip to get the boxes fuller.

I’ve loved supporting Operation Christmas Child since the kids have been toddlers, through three different churches. This year we prepaid the shipping on-line to get barcodes to track where our boxes go.

11-05-11

Tolo: a less formal dance sponsored by a high school in which female students invite male students.

In other parts it is called a Sadie Hawkins Dance, which Anastasia thinks is a better name. She also thinks that dressing as an occupation is “lame” and tried to make Princess an occupation so she could wear a formal gown.

A small group of students came over for a Hobo dinner at our house before heading to the dance. Cameron was Clark Kent, Anastasia was a super hero, and Sloane and Rex were very sharp looking wait staff.

11-04-11

Bruce is acting like he’s been pent up all week and now he wants to be out and about this weekend.

I have had an incredibly long work week, am not particularly enjoying my low calorie existence, and would like to lay low this weekend.

It was hard to go to craft night at church tonight feeling so worn out. I feel blessed for going, but maybe I should have stayed home and sent Bruce out to party!

11-03-11

Not sure why this Gollum hat lives in the kitchen nook instead of in the Halloween costume bin. Mom made it for Xander years ago.

This morning when I was eating breakfast, Bruce came into the nook to say good morning and he popped the hat on his head. An hour later, as I was out the door to work, he was still wearing it. For no apparent reason.

It’s fun living with a goofball. And having my blog photo first thing in the morning!

11-02-11

The past few months have not been good for eating well and exercising hard. Not feeling great, I started telling myself I deserved to take a break from working out and eat more fattening foods. My ‘healthy during the week and sweets on the weekends’ routine flew out the window.

Some reports say the average person gains five to ten pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years. Many reports say it is only one pound, but that it is a pound that never goes away. Regardless, I face a ton of temptations during the holiday season, so I want to be fit and light on the scale going into it.

So, this week it is back to an hour of exercise a day, half of it intense, high nutrition/low calorie foods, and no sweets. Not even on the weekends. Until Thanksgiving.

I miss my mochas, but I really do like kale chips.

11-01-11

November 1st marks one year of occupancy for one of our tenants! Woo-hoo!

Considering we’ve had five tenants who have left before a year (three of them under six months!), seems like there should be fireworks going off or something, but it was a pretty run-of-the-mill dreary wintery day.

It seems a long time in coming to have stable tenants, but considering that we are only 19 months into this land lording adventure, I guess it's not so bad.