So it's been a while since I've blogged. Here are some pictures from Dec. 20th. As you can see, we've had a lot of snow. This was the Sunday storm that came right after the bad Thursday storm. Since we don't have much of a yard, we quickly ran out of places to put the snow. Luckily we have since had some warm days and the snow has melted a bit. In fact, there's a little bit of grass visible int he front yard. And the neighbors built a fort out of the piles in front.
So every couple of weeks we get together with some friends (mostly Chris’ co-workers) for Game Night. This week we decided to go bowling and it became a larger than normal affair with some extra people invited. It also was semi-close to various people’s birthdays, so we took the opportunity to celebrate. And of course we had to try to embarrass them with party hats and balloons.
Given the number of people I picked up two cakes. And we combined the ages and put the number “81” on the cake (York and Kristin were both turning 24 and Esch is 33).
The timing actually worked out rather well since we got there towards the end of the league so we went into the lounge for drinks and cake before the lanes opened up.
And then it was cosmic bowling. Any ideas on what light setting to use when taking photos under a black light? All of my pictures are blue and blurry. The blurry I understand, but I’d like to know how to avoid the blue if at all possible. Our next Game Night will be on Sunday afternoon and we’re doing a Yankee Swap. We’ve bought one of our gifts but still need to get one more.
Saturday I had my second skating lesson and realized that I’m the worst skater in my class. I think I’m ok with that, but it’s frustrating at the same time. One problem I have is that I feel the teacher goes over too many techniques in one class so there is no opportunity to actually master any of them. Finally, rather than trying something I didn’t feel comfortable with; I just started doing my own thing. And as a result, I actually got better at skating backwards- one of my goals. Now if only I could master stopping.
After skating I came home and finished prepping for the annual Cookie Baking day. Maybe other years are just as bad, but this year I felt it was exceptionally stressful- mostly because of my dad.
So first of all, my dad has a recipe that calls to be baked "in a moderate oven, 350-400 degrees". Sometimes they come out hard as a rock, this year they all fell apart. Find a temperature and stick to it! You can't bake something in a 50 degree range.
Then he had another recipe and after he's added most of the ingredients he realizes he used baking soda instead of baking powder. He thinks he can just add the other one and it will be fine. We tell him no- throw it out and start over. He says, what, we're not going to bake these as is? No, throw it out! In the end, he did throw it out and they came out fine, but I can just imagine the disaster otherwise.
And as to the timing- since I had skating in the morning we decided we would start at 11. But then they were late. And then we had to have lunch. So it was easily 12:30 before we started. And then they had to leave (not sure of the time, 4-5 maybe) because Hanna had to go get a tree with her dad. What? Why couldn't they do that a different day? Aaaargh!
We did manage to get most of the recipes made before they left- just one other that had to go into the oven. As a result, we got all of those cookies for ourselves.
The Christmas Forest is back in my scrap room this year. Not the best picture- I'll try to get better ones when I have less stuff in my room. But I've got the 5 foot pink tree, the 4 foot green, and then on my cubes I have a 3 foot pink and an 18 inch silver. (Ok, so I completely guessed on those heights, but you get the idea.) I love them! Kind of wish the trees on the cube were more noticeable, but I do the best I can with the space that I have available.
Saturday morning we got up bright and early to head to my church for their second annual Craft Faire. Last year Chris and I shared a table, and this year we had planned on having 2 tables, but I never got my act together. So instead it was just Chris.
Then in the evening we had our semi-regular game night- this time at Jason and Kelly's house. Last year they pretty much were all at our house, and this year we're rotating a bit. Totally makes sense- especially since Jason and Kelly live in NH and it's not fair for them to always come down to our place.
These pumpkins are outside. I had wanted to carve the letters on them, but life got in the way. The other side of the steps had some pumpkins that my neighbors had painted. I also put some spiderwebs on the metal of the entryway. I thought it turned out pretty well, especially since the metal was a bit on the rusty side.
After going through the main outer door, there is a small entryway. I had this wreath on our door and the rat down in the corner. It's been kind of funny listening to people's reactions for the past month as they see the rat. He's pretty gross looking, and if you're just looking quickly I think he looks fairly realistic.
As we move further into the building we come to our living room. I really enjoyed making this little ApotheSCARY shop. Thanks Rachel for the inspiration on this. Unfortunately I lost some creative steam so there are a few empty or nameless bottles. Maybe next year I'll get it finished? In the meantime, here are some more detailed shots of what I've got.
Here we have my buffet in my dining room. On the left are the bat and luminary candles, the ghosts in the middle, and the pumpkins on the right. Now that Halloween is over I'll keep the pumpkins out but pack up the rest.
And finally, here's a picture of me. Kind of blurry, but I like how it turned out. I love my lashes. I think I need to wear fake lashes more often. The skeleton earrings were a bit heavy, but I think once a year they'll be fine.
A few weeks ago was "Chainsaw Weekend" a time when my dad gets us all to go to his vacation house to clean up the yard and woods a bit- taking down trees that the beaver started on, removing trees that are blocking the view of the lake, etc.
We also took the time to celebrate fall birthdays. This was Boy Chris, Dad, Andrew, and for the first year- me! The other three birthdays are pretty close to each other, but mine is in November and lately has been forgotten a bit. So this year we decided to include mine with the others. It felt weird celebrating a month early. And according to this cake, my youth has died. :(
I wanted to get all of my vacation posts posted before I moved on to other subjects, and now I feel like so much has happened since August but I've forgotten half of it!
So, here are links to my "recent" creations:
For the second year in a row Chris and I served as chaperones/ advisors for our church's youth group trip to Hammonasset. As always, it was a fun time. However, we both got stuck leading a station for the Saturday activities. Mine wasn't too bad (name game where a famous person's name is taped to your back, and by asking yes or no questions you have to figure out who you are) but Chris got to lead the station where they were coloring placemats for prisoners. That didn't really go over so well.
I had an absoultely wonderful time meeting Minda and Lisa, two gals from TallyScrapper who came out to Boston for the weekend. We spent some time in the Boston area sightseeing and then we went up to New Hampshire to hang with Tami and Jen.
At the end of September was Chris' birthday. No, the letters around the edge of the cake don't spell anything out. I just figured that since I had bought all of the letters I should use them. The day after his birthday we had a number of friends over for "Game Night" so it was a nice excuse for a mini party. We played Cranium. Guys against girls, and the girls won. Woo hoo! However, there was a disagreement in the interpretation of the rules and some shouting occurred.
And that pretty much brings us into October. Last weekend was The Great Glass Pumpkin Patch at MIT. You may remember me discussing it last year? The pumpkin pics at the top of this post are from this event. The crowds just keep getting bigger and bigger! Last year we got there a little after 9, this year we arrived at 8:15, but we were still about the same place in line- number 180! Yikes.
After getting our tickets to reserve our place in line we checked out the perimeter of the patch, trying to find some that we liked. We saw some in the back, so when we were finally allowed in Chris went straight for those. I took my time looking at the other patches trying to find some in the lower price ranges. Unfortunately by the time Chris got over to them the 3 we liked were gone. We wandered some more, and then I saw someone carrying one of the ones that we liked. I went up to her and offered to trade any of the pumpkins in our box for the one she was holding. Score! She traded. (It's the yellow one with the tall stem in the back of this picture.) We also got three others- 1 more for home, 1 for work, and 1 for a gift. The picture is of all of our pumpkins from the past 4 trips to the patch. Time to start saving for next year!
And the last item to discuss, is my Halloween mantle. This picture is from a couple of weeks ago and it has evolved a little since that time. Stay tuned for more pictures once it's completed.
The day started with the perfect feel for a day touring battlefields- cool and foggy. Unfortunately, by the time we left the campground and got to the battlefields, the fog had lifted and the sun was shining.
We picked up an audio driving tour and started on our way. This was much more Chris' kind of thing than mine. Whenever we stopped he would read every placard and I would kind of wander off and see what pretty flowers were around. I tried to give him time to see things, but I think he quickly realized I was bored.
However, I did find this statue to be interesting since it was sculpted by the same guy who sculpted Mount Rushmore. I thought it interesting that we would see two of his works in such different parts of the country on the same trip. He also did Stone Mountain in Georgia, but that will have to be another trip.
By the end of our tour around the park (about 3-4 hours later) even Chris was getting bored. We skipped the visitor centers and decided to head for home.
Total Miles: 6901.4
After leaving the motel in Illinois, we headed across the state and across Indiana. Just before the border into Ohio is Hoosier High Point. It is located in a small wooded area alongside a corn field. I had been here before, but Chris hadn't and since it was on our way we decided to stop so that Chris could claim the state.
In the morning we headed off to Pennsylvania. Mt. Davis was another high point that I had been to before, but again, it was on the way. This one was another "drive-up" with just a short walk to the fire tower and views over the trees.
Our first stop was Taum Sauk, the highest point of Missouri.
After the high point we headed up to St. Louis to visit the McDonald's Monument. What, that's not what it's called? Sorry, the Gateway Arch. Huh, that's not the name either? Yeah- we were shocked to learn that it's really called the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.
Hey, this isn't Fenway Park. New baseball stadiums are much larger. I wonder if we can get tickets to a game. So we called Chris dad to first find out if there was a home game that night, and then also to find out what the range in ticket prices was. There was a game, and the prices seemed decent, so off we headed to the ballpark. Score! Decent seats at a decent price. This wouldn't happen back in Boston!