Compromise

The sign of a good marriage is the ability to creatively compromise. I was reminded yesterday how lucky I am to be married to someone who though totally different than I, can understand my needs, no matter how silly or "unreal" they are. It makes me feel good to know that Jim acknowledges my need for make believe and magic, especially during this time of the year. Let's be honest, Jim is the more realistic half of our marriage. =) BUT--we have mixed both our families traditions into one that we will someday share with our children. It feels good.

Here comes Santa Claus
Here comes Santa Claus....

Ode to Jim

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree
How lovely are your branches
So full of sap we cannot see
How lovely are your branches
You're never straight on the first try
When you fall down we wonder why
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree
Why do we even booooooooooother?








Please note: Once it's up and lovely, we love it. :)

Weather

I am tired of living in a place that can't anywhere near accurately predict the weather. My expectations were to awake and spend the day in a magical winterland with my dog, but alas...rain.

Boooo.

WASHINGTON SQUARE

The day after turkey we head to the mall
Now filled with such fun decorations for all
A big, red SALE sign at every store front
Causes ladies to push and to glare and to grunt
Women balance purse, bags and hot Starbucks cup
As the husbands try ever so hard to keep up
Children are screaming and running around
Teens wander off in hopes they won't be found
I love the excitement of this shopping day
Happy day after Thanksgiving, to each in your way!

Yikes!

It was Halloween when I last blogged and now it is almost Thanksgiving! So much has happened since then!

Jen's in choir again! Woohoo!

Maine...Boston...amazing trip!

HARRY POTTER 4!!!!!!!!! Yesssss!

For the first time in over 2 months, Jen, Sarah, Becky and I went out for several hours together!!

Hi Lindsey! =)

Carson played Outburst with us!

In two days I will be making my first Thanksgiving meal!!! Ayaiyai!

Sorry there is nothing more interesting to blog about...

However, I would like to say thank you to my family of friends who so willingly offer their prayers over tough situations. You know of what I speak and I am so grateful to all of you. Love you all!

ps I bet no one can use as many exclaimation marks as me!

Happy Halloween everyone!

And here are some lovely photos, courtesy of Jim's parents, of our Jim as a youngster, enjoying himself as a cat and an apple. Wasn't he darling???















Meoooooooow. (That's Jim's sis, Kathy, as Raggedy Ann, I think)















Don't you just want to coat him in caramel and nuts and eat him up?

Fantasy land

No, not Disney World.

Do you ever have days where you wish that the world around you was like what you watched in My Little Pony or Rainbow Brite? And the bad stuff that happened in your life could be destroyed by goodness and cheery dispositions?

Today I wish I could shoot a big part of a rainbow out of my tummy and Care Bear Stare some people here at work. 'Cause GOSH, they need it!

I shall close my eyes tight and imagine that everything around me is poofy clouds and colorful landscapes, talking animals and glimmering waterfalls. Actually, that is a great thought. My co-workers have just become cartoon characters in my head. Hehe. Sweet.

Last night was...

...A bsolutely
...P ositively
...P ure
de L iciousness for
...E veryone!!!

And a big thank you to Sarah and Eric for hosting a Caramel-Apple-Making-Party, which I might add, were scrumptious. And thank you to Mike for pounding up the peanuts ever so creatively...and to Jim for taking pictures...and to Becky for trying to squeeze a ziploc full of leftover peanuts back into the peanut container. A huge "we missed you" to Jen, Trent and Carson!! This is definitely a do-over type shindig.

Harvest Party

Several days later, I feel the need to speak my enjoyment of the Thompsons' annual Harvest Party. 'Twas on Saturday, starting with the 'ol pumpkin patch on Sauvie Island...always a fun trip, with yummy corn-on-the-cob and scrumptious elephant ears. I was oh-so-thrilled that Jen and Trent were able to come with Carson, who slept the entire time. Woohoo! What a trooper. My favorite part of the pumpkin patch is always when I pick out the largest pumpkin at the very back of the patch and Jim has to carry it all the way back to the tractor. Hehe. Not intentional, I swear!

Then on we go to the Thompsons' house for fellowship and lots-o-delicious fixins. Can I just say I love mashed potatoes?? Yessss. Good times. What good friends and family we have. =)

Thanks to Sarah and Eric for a super fun time!!!

Sarah

Sarah is the sweetest girl
Ever in the whole wide world
She's thoughtful and extremely kind
The prettiest you'll ever find
A quiet spirit, fresh and new
Forever selfless, loving, true
A friend like this is hard to find
I'm so glad I can call her mine.

Puzzles are fun

Jim and I have taken up puzzles as of late. It's one of those things you forget you like to do. When we were younger, Jeremiah and I would spend hours actually not fighting and putting a puzzle together. Good times. Now Jim and I are spending quality time together over a puzzle rather than the TV all night. It's quite nice. I unfortunately chose some rather difficult puzzles full of all the same colors with 1000 tiny pieces. We're going blind but having fun!

In case my mom is reading, we finally have our new fence put in to go with our new backyard lawn. It is all so very beautiful. I let Maddie go outside to test it all out for the first time last night and she was so confused. She walked all the way around the perimeter, staying only on the barkdust. When she ended up back on the porch, she looked up at me very confused. But then, before I could say "It's just grass," she took off in what I call her back-and-forth sprints, where she runs back and forth about 20 feet a million times. She seemed to enjoy the new backyard as much as we do. Then, in the spirit of loving something so nice, we went to the park so she could not poo on our pretty grass. =)

LOST II

Was I right about those new characters or was I right? Woop woop! (how sad that I have also picked this up...)

LOST

I need to answer Eric's question regarding who took Walt. I still believe there are "others" on the island. I just don't think it's the group we have now seen. I think they are survivors from another part of the plane and have taken a different approach to surviving than Jack and crew. I could be wrong, but that's my guess. Perhaps they have seen more of the odd stuff on the island, which causes them to react aggressively to newcomers. Hopefully, some light will be shed on THAT one tonight. Hmph.

Man...there are some days that just aren't good for working. That is today for me. I need to crawl back under my covers and hibernate for a while, as I am not anywhere near being productive today. On the one hand, I love the change to the cool, rainy season. On the other hand, it just makes me sleepy. Oh well.

Did you know you could set up a registry at potterybarn.com for any occasion?? How cool is that? Of course, no one will know it exists unless I tell them, which seems weird..."What do you want for Christmas?" "Oh - check out my registry at Pottery Barn!"...but it's cool! Hmm. I suppose we do the same thing with Amazon wishlists...Pottery Barn should call it a wishlist instead. That makes it sound better. You have to choose a date for your occasion, so I chose Christmas day. Ha. 74 shopping days left!!!

For you, Jim.

B een at a
L oss
O f
G reat inspiration to blog lately.

Maybe more later?

I knew it...

This guy was on the plane and is not one of "the others."

How do I know? Because he was friendly with this woman:

Though I do not expect this common sense to hold, coming from JJ Abrahms. Question: How can this man fix an ancient computer in under 5 minutes? In the dark, no less?

Grass

Grass is green
Grass smells nice
Providing backyard paradise
Friends and dogs
Can celebrate
With hamburgers and fresh grilled steak
A place to run
And spend the day
A place our dog can cleanly play
In times of rain
I will not cry
When Maddie whines to go outside
Way easier
To scoop the poop
To that I yell a loud "WOOP WOOP!"
Thank you Jim
My husband dear
For having grass put in this year!

Autumn Rain

Rain is calming, soft and strong
Streaming down for hours long
Washing clean the earth's domain
Making fresh the air again
I do not mind the sun's farewell
I'm under fall's enchanting spell

Becky

I love Becky, yes I do
She's funny, kind and pretty, too
Here's a picture of my friend
Whom I'll love to the very end.



Heeeeee!

Bring on the rain!!

I love to see the colored leaves
I love the raindrops on my sleeves
I love the fall in every way
It means we're close to Christmas day.

A poem, by Stephanie Marr.

Thank you, thank you. Oh, stop it. Thank you.

I do not like muddy, wet, golden retrievers. No matter how much they love me.