Thankful...for an immune system and other random things

I spent my Thanksgiving weekend on the couch with various cold systems - you know, cough, runny nose, sneezing etc. It started the Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving and I'm still suffering some ill effects but the worst of it was gone by Monday. I was very generous and shared the fun with Graham. His immune system must be better than mine as his has not lasted as long or been as severe.

We've decided to go a bit minimalistic with our Christmas decorations this year. Our normal christmas tree is 9 feet tall and takes quite a bit to get it up and decorated. We went to Garden Ridge after thanksgiving and bought a small pre-lit tabletop tree. My other Christmas purchase was a nativity scene. I have been looking for one for a while but always made the mistake of waiting until after Christmas to try to purchase one and the selection was very limited. I looked online and found gorgeous sets with matching prices. Who pays $2000 for a nativity scene? I hit up Walmart this afternoon and found one more within my budget and am very pleased. I'm hoping to get some pictures of our Christmas decorations this weekend to post on the blog.

To add to this random post I recently got a new crock pot. My previous crock-pot was a handmedown from my great-grandmother who had gotten it for Christmas many moons ago and had used it maybe once or twice. The pot still worked but it was small, did not have the removable crock and the knob to switch temperatures broke so you had to use pliers to flip temperatures. Graham investigated our options and we decided on a 30 dollar crock pot at Target. It doesn't have many of the fancy features but does have a warm option in addition to low and high. My main request was something larger (our new one is 6 qts) and a removable crock (which this one has). Additional features I like are a carrying case, clips to lock the lid to the pot when travling and a spoon holder in the lid. I've also enjoyed breaking in my new crock pot with new recipes. I made a mean minestrone a few weeks ago to share with J&J and the sunday before thanksgiving I made a very tasty chicken tortilla soup. Both recipes came from this cookbook.

Attention!

I'm having problems commenting on others blogs so my silence is not due to lack of interest but rather to errors blogger is giving me. Hopefully it will be resolved soon and I will be able to add my two cents worth!

Jen - Your blog is one that I can't comment on so congrats on your news. I had a feeling this was coming. What mexican restaurant did y'all go to for the birthday celebration?

Graham & Emilio - Separated at birth?

Per Jen's comment that Graham looked a bit like Emilio Estevez I'm posting pictures for comparision.


















He's also been told several times he looks like Rob Lowe.

A comedy of errors

This past weekend Graham and I rented a cottage in Brevard. We didn't have anything special planned, just a weekend away in the mountains. Friday evening we ate dinner with my parents and their pastor and his wife as they were in the area at Ridgehaven (PCA facility in Rosman).

Saturday we took our time getting ready and also enjoyed using the hot tub. It was quite cold outside but the hot tub was nice and toasty so once you were you in you really didn't notice the cold. After lunch we decided to go driving in the Pisgah National Forest to hike and see the sights. Graham had driven the previous day so I was itching to drive my new car. Unfortuntely while backing out I hit a steel cable (the kind that comes off of a power pole) and so now my new car has a few lovely scratches on the bumper. The good news is it isn't bad, there isn't a dent and it's on the plastic part so hopefully it will be a fairly easy and inexpensive fix. I was too upset to drive so Graham took over and backed out successfully. Our first stop was Looking Glass Falls which was very pretty although I was expecting to have a bit more of a hike to see it.

Next we headed north and stopped at the Cradle of Forestry. I can't say it was the most exciting place I've ever been but they did have some nice trails and we got a free tree out of the deal. Graham found this saw blade outside the gift shop and thought it was quite nifty. On our way back down the mountain we stopped at the Mt. Pisgah education center which is also a fish hatchery.

Saturday evening we decided to rest our tired muscles in the hottub. Now let me preface this story by saying that we discovered previously that you could exit the cottage without actually unlocking the door but when the door shut it would be locked. I'm not quite sure why you'd want this feature in a household lock but evidentally these people did. I ventured out into the cold first and hopped into the hottub. Graham soon followed and as soon as he got all settled in the water I asked "Did you remember to unlock the door". He slowly answered "No....". With a sinking feeling I hopped back out to check the door and sure enough it was locked. It was only 6:30 but it was quite dark, quite cold, and all we had were our bathing suits and towels. No cell phones, no keys, no nothing. Fortunately there was another rental on the property so Graham ventured over, in swimming trunks and towel, to see if possibly their key would fit our lock. No such luck. Next he tried calling the people we were renting from to have them come let us in. You'd think with 4 numbers you would be able to reach someone but no, Graham only got voicemail. He left messages and then came back out to wait with me in the hot tub. Before he got in he decided to try the windows to see if any were open. The last one he checked had a bent screen (perhaps someone else got locked out) and he was able to get the screen off and the window open. He then called back and left an additional voicemail to let the landlords know we had gotten in. During this time the neighbors came by to offer to let us sit in their living room while we waited. Although it was kind of them to offer I would have been mortified to have to sit in their living room with just a towel and swimsuit!

Sunday was quite the opposite of Saturday. We woke up around 8 and took our time getting ready. We stopped at an orchard on the way down to get our usual fall apples and cider and were home before 1. An eventful but interesting weekend!

Me and my Mini-J

Well I finally did it. I said good-bye to my long-time partner in crime, Mini-V and said hello to the fun yet classy Mini-J. The weekend of October 27 we decided to test drive the Compass to see if it was even what we would want. We decided to go to our closest Jeep dealership, although they don't have the best reputation, since we weren't intending to buy. Well if we had any inclination to buy from them it was squelched with the way they treated us. They really knew nothing about the Compass (we knew more about the features) and then lied to us when we questioned them. They tried their hardest to get us to purchase their Compass but it was a 4X4 and that tacks on 3K for a feature we didn't want or need. After some research on the internet we found a model that had the interior and exterior color I wanted (Jeep Green & Pebble Beige respectively) and it also had the features we wanted without too many additional features we didn't want. The only downside was the location - Gainesville, GA - however, we were willing to drive if they would give us a good deal. We low-balled them thinking they would go back and forth on the price but the guy said he could do it for what we wanted to pay. We drove to Gainesville (well technically Oakwood) on Halloween and test drove the one we wanted. It was perfect so the next thing I know, I'm driving home in my brand new Compass. This is my 3rd car period and my first new car so it was all very exciting. So far I haven't found anything I don't like about it. It's really everything I wanted. The height and feel of a small SUV but the gas mileage of a car and the feel of a car. I'm still trying to figure out what name to give it. I like the idea of Mini-J since the Compass does look a bit like a Mini Grand Cherokee but the other names in the running are M.J. and Compy. I welcome any suggestions or votes for a name.

Rainbow Brite

I've just finished an afghan and pillow set for a coworker who is due in February. She doesn't intend to find out what she is having so I tried to make it gender neutral but I wanted more colors than green and yellow. This is also the first time I've attempted to make a crocheted pillow and I think it turned out really well. The pillow will probably get added to the list of items I need to make for Julie when she has children. With every thing I make that list keeps getting longer and longer.

Life in the not so fast lane

Our weekend was very busy and for the most part fun-filled. Saturday morning I had a eye doctor appointment and was surprised to learn that I have "dry eye syndrome". The only symptom I had was my contacts sometimes bothering me. Normally eye doctor appointments don't bother me but she really messed around with my eyes (including turning my eyelid inside out!) so by the time I was done my eyes were really bothering me. But there was no rest for my weary eyes and it was off to a friends house for a Southern Living At Home party combined with products from my friends monogramming business. It's mainly baby items (bibs, burp cloths, diaper bags) but she also has home items (monogrammed napkins and fingertip towels) and stylish tote bags. I ended up getting a bib & burp cloth set for a shower present and also decided to treat myself to a monogrammed tote. :-) Next we went home for lunch and then off again for a baby shower. I won't go into too much detail since the main audience of my blog was there but needless to say we had fun. Liz scored the best table at Macaroni Grill (the bar rocks!) It was much quieter and we had no wait. As a bonus smoking isn't allowed in restaurants so we didn't have to put up with that either.

Sunday started off as normal with church and sunday dinner. Jack and Julie left around 3 to shop in Commerce before heading back to Greenville. Graham and I followed around 4 and also decided to stop in Commerce. After a quick shopping excursion to Bass we continued on our way only to get about 10 miles up the road before we start hearing a funny noise. I asked Graham what it was and he said it was the road but it seemed too loud for that so he pulled over to check it out. Let me interject here that we were driving my 1989 Volvo which has seen better days but still runs fairly well (or at least she did). He carefully got out of the car (people were speeding by at 70+ miles an hour) and looked under the car. Mini-V (as she is affectionately called) had decided to break a weld and the exhaust system before the catalytic converter had come disconnected. Other than a harley-esque sound and major vibrations she was fine to drive so we started back up. Jack and Julie had since passed us and were waiting up ahead at a weigh station to follow in case we had any other issues. Well no sooner had we come to the weigh station did we start hearing a scraping noise. We pulled over at the weigh station and Graham and Jack once again dove under the car to see that Mini-V had decided she no longer needed an exhuast system and we were now dragging the pipe. They tried to get the pipe attached back to the car so we could drive home with it (with a coat hanger no less!) but that was a no-go so they decided to pull out the entire thing and then take it with us. After much tugging, tooling, and beating everything came out although we decided to take only the catalytic converter and the pipe connected to it since nothing else would fit (and since Jack said the catalytic converter had platinum in it.) I was hoping there might be enough metal for a ring.

Jack and Graham sacrificed themselves by riding in Mini-V back to Greenville with Julie and I following in their Maxima with the dogs. Mini-V is now residing at a local garage awaiting an all new exhaust system. Fortunately the mechanic can reuse what we saved so it won't be near as much as it could have been. We're hoping she'll hold out at least until Christmas and then maybe we'll get a new car. At this time this is what I'm hoping for although I haven't test driven it so who knows what I will think once I do. If I do get this car I can say with all assurance it will not be silver. I am tired of that color and would like a nice red.