Pat, pat, pat

Before Christmas I mentioned that I was proud of a craft project, but couldn't show anyone because it was a present. Well, now the lucky recipient has opened it and so I can post some pictures. This is a knitting needle case made in colors my sistrah likes.

One puts their needles in the various pockets and then folds over the top. Notice the personalitation with Anne's tatoo as an applique.

Then fold over the two sides. I picked that front fabric becuase it was still colors my sister likes, but it was more elegant than just solid colors.

Then fold it again...

And finally fold like a book and secure with ribbon.

I thought it turned out killer. I don't usually get so excited about stuff that I make, but I have to say this one makes me proud.

Yertle

Right before Christmas we ordered a kitten I mean macho, manly dog perch for The PW. Due to some camera issues I was unable to show the world the king of all he surveys, until now.

He does like to be on top of things, even if it isn't the perch..."ahem, I think you misspelled that word"

After taking that picture I went to sit down on the couch and a little fuzzy face appeared...

"I've got my eye on you!"

They

The day after Christmas is Roland's birthday, and he is so totally old now. I only get three months to taunt him about this before my birthday so I'm going to have to milk it while I have it. He tried to pull the I'm older you should listen to my wisdom crap, but Jason quickly let him know it wasn't working. Jason has been old for a while now and apparently nobody is listening to his wisdom either. I got Roland some books, some DVDs, and some magnetic spice containers like AB has on his show. I was lucky though, a couple of days after I bought them, Dave found some at Target and almost bought them. Whew! Now I just need to figure out how to label them that looks as nice as they do.

Another bonus about the day after Christmas was that my parents flew in to visit for a few days. We went out to the Bonefish Grill for Roland's birthday and it was very good. During their stay we also found this really great Thai place that I think Roland and I will be going back to, especially when Jason comes to visit (they also have sushi). Roland got the Zagat's guide to South Florida for his birthday and it got a lot of use. My parents and I visited Butterfly World, went on an Everglades tour thing, and went to the beach. I had a very good time and hope they did too. My Dad took a lot of pictures and I'm hoping that I will be able to get my hands on them. They just went back home yesterday and I already miss them.

Rip, rip, tear, tear

I received a lot of really great gifts this year. I got a number of books, a couple of jigsaw puzzles, and some Legos (Thanks Mom C). Roland got me the soundtrack to Rent, Cinderella on DVD, some awesome video games, some delicious hot chocolate, and some silly hot chocolate:

The picture didn't show it terribly well, but the hot chocolate turns pink when you add the hot water. In the package is also blue and purple so we will have to see how they look. How fun! My uncle got me a calendar of photographs of his hiking expeditions, a kitchen scale, and a book of how to do Sudoku puzzles. SWEET, now maybe I can be cool like Jason.

My sister and Karl got me a video game for the DS ( which they got all of their supporting cast at their wedding - the best attendant gift EVER). It is called Animal Crossing: Wild World. My sister has had Animal Crossing for a long time and has been addicted to it for as long as she has had it. With the DS version we can visit each other's towns and chat with each other from anywhere. Yesterday we got together and I visited her town and she visited mine and Karl visited both of ours. I haven't been to Cow Town (Karl's - that is Karl with a K, but Cow Town with a C) yet, but I'm under the impression he has been teaching his townspeople naughty things to say, so that should be interesting. They are much further along in the game than I am but I have done a lot of fishing and caught a few bugs.

The other game I'm into is one Roland got me, also for the DS. It is called Trace Memory and it is in the Myst vein, less shooting more figuring. I hadn't heard of it, but it's just perfect for me. Although I am a little stuck right now...I'm sure I will figure it out. To sum up: Christmas was great; good food, good presents, good company. It was a little lonely at times, but Roland made it all okay.

Four leaves only

It has been a while and much has happened, mostly presents. I like presents. Roland and I had a quiet Christmas Eve and Christmas at the apartment. We woke late on Christmas and just made up our day as we went along. Roland made an incredible dinner and we opened presents.

Roland bought two Cornish hens and brined them starting in the morning of Christmas. I think he used a similar brine to the one AB uses on his turkey and stuffed them with some herbs and a lemon wedge. There was also a garlic smashed potato dish, and an artichoke sausage side with a butter and white wine reduction. Great googley moogley was it ever good. Everything Roland made was like something you would get in a restaurant. I ate way to much, but I couldn't help myself. The hen was fork tender, with a crispy skin, and oozing lemon rosemary flavored juiciness. The artichokes were noticeably fresh and the sausage (from Doris Italian Market) was succulent. The reduction brought it all together and made it out of this world. All in all it was one of the best meals I've ever eaten. How did I get to be so lucky?

Bummer

I miss being with my family and friends.

It's a bird...a giant oval shaped bird

We picked up my car today, yay! Apparently both of my front springs on the struts were broken? Yes, that is a question mark, not a period, as I don't really know what I'm taking about when it comes to cars. Luckily there was a recall on those parts so they were replaced for free (thank the appropriate power - perhaps the patron saint of busted vehicles). I also had them do an oil change which we did pay for, but that needed to happen anyway. Overall the people over there were very nice and fast. The dude called everyday to let us know the progress which was nice. And he was all apologetic about the delay to get parts, but that wasn't really necessary, as I didn't really care.

While we were driving to get my car back we saw a blimp tooling around. Apparently there is a Blimpery somewhere near here. Roland has even driven past it at some point or another (he doesn't actually remember where it is, or when he might have been driving there). Seeing the blimp caused a discussion about what you call the home of the blimps. Roland thought maybe a Blimp-port.

Yo-ho-ho

I went out this morning to do a little shopping. Seeing how we only have one car Roland and I are sort of switching off going out and about. I went to the pet store and picked up some new Kong toys and some keep-the-dog-occupied rawhides for Christmas and when my parents are visiting. I don't normally like to give him rawhides and whatnot, but there isn't much better for an hours long distraction. The kong toy filled with peanut butter only lasts about a half and hour. I also found a new rope toy as the old one is getting about done. The one I got is theoretically 'steak' flavored. We'll see how he likes it. I also got a microplane grater thingy, some ornament storage and some last minute gifts for Roland. All this meant I went to a few more stores than I had planned to in the first place and it took me longer than I thought, but it was nice to be out and about.

After I came home and relaxed for a bit, Roland left to do some shopping. While he was gone I wrapped his gifts, and did some more cleaning. I'm trying to do a little cleaning each day so when it comes to the day after Christmas (and Roland's B-Day!) I hopefully won't need to freak out too much to get the apartment spiffy before picking up my parents at 4:30. Today I worked on the master bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen (a very little). Soon I will get to the living room which is going to be interesting because, since that is not the room I'm working on right now, that is where I have been going with all the I-don't-know-what-to-do-with-it stuff from the other rooms. Sooner or later that is going to come back to haunt me.

Anyway, I think it is time to make some cookies. We cheated and got all ready make dough to bake. I'm kind of excited about the gingerbread ones. I feel a little guilty about getting pre-made sugar cookie dough, but I don't think it's very likely I would make gingerbread on my own so that feels less like cheating.

Anticipating Aromas

I spent a little time cleaning today (I know, terribly exciting). In the middle of which I heard a strange sound coming from the hall outside our apartment. It sort of sounded like the ice-maker dropping a load only much louder. I went to the door and opened it a crack to see what was going on. Boy was that lucky, the opening it a crack part that is. Turns out they were power washing the building and I almost got drenched. Guess I should have used the peep hole a little more carefully.

Good and bad news on the car. Javier called this morning and said it was a strut problem (under warranty) and some new gaskets (not under warranty). Sweet and not so sweet, but whatever, just fix the car and whatnot. Then he called back later and it turns out there was a recall or something for Michigan and now it's going to all be free (I think). But they have to get some special part from up in the great white north so it will be a little longer. I'm not really sure how that all comes out with recalls only for certain parts of the country but hey if it means all I have to pay for is the desperately needed oil change, bully for me. He also mentioned some other stuff that probably needs doing, various system cleanings, but we can do that after this whole issue is taken care of. So a little longer without a car, but less cost...I'll take it!

Roland braved the mall today for some shopping and then went to the grocery store and the farmers market. He got some pretty sweet stuff at the market, some eggplants, a zucchini the size of your head, fresh garlic, onion, and shallots. Awesome. I'm in for some pretty sweet meals this week! I love having a husband that likes to go all bitchcakes (miss ya Henry) on the dinner. We are having Christmas Eve steak and Christmas Day Cornish hens and I heard something about a artichoke and sausage somethingerother. Bet you wish you were here!

Whiney, whine, whine-ity, WHINE

Oh, the unfairity of it all. I was out and about today and during a right hand turn... crunch/sproing/some other incredibly unfortunate sound. I took it to a Ford dealership semi near our home but they are very busy, so Javier (the really nice dude over there) said he would check it out by tomorrow and give me a call. He said it might be the steering or the something something else. I just hope it wont be too serious or too long in the fixing. I kind of wanted to object to going to this dealership on principle since their commercial uses the GhostBusters song in that horrible change-the-words-to-fit way(the name of the place is Maroone - think: Who ya gonna call? Ghost/Ma-bust/roon-ers/ey). Hopefully they will be as good as Duthler was.

In other news the kitt...I mean dog perch arrived. Bleys has taken to it well although he still tries to walk on the skinny slippery part too. He spent a lot of time on it the other day watching a guy on a cherry picker work on our roof. Of course it was accompanied by a whole lot of really cute growling through the window at him too. He just doesn't sound at all menacing or even serious when he growls, he just sounds...silly.

Cue the fat lady

Today was the last of our community education dance classes. It went fairly well, but I could tell the instructor was mega-frustrated. We started with about 8 couples and one loner in the class. There was a two week break in the middle of the class schedule (Thanksgiving and all) and the week before that break we were down to about 5 couples and the loner who came on and off (but she was mostly off even when she was on). After the break only one other couple and Roland and I showed up. This was pretty sweet because we got a lot of personal attention and learned some pretty cool moves. And that loner I mentioned is the most uncoordinated stiff non-dance type person ever, so her being absent was like a breath of fresh air. She is a nightmare to watch and I suppose dance with (one fella mentioned that she has a death grip while dancing). Anyway it was quite nice to be with just that one other couple. They are pretty serious (in a fun way) about it, they even went to the practice the instructor holds at his normal place of business, and bought dance shoes. All this means that we were able to learn quite a bit.

This week: badness. The seriously fun couple showed up - cool; another couple who hadn't been there in ages showed up (not particularly quick either) - not cool; and lone terrible lady showed up - major bummer. The poor instructor was trying to teach all the hard stuff we learned last week to these people while keeping funly serious couple and us going, and it wasn't going very well. I'm not sure other people noticed but I thought he was getting pretty fed up, and I totally understand. He finally sort of gave up on the loner lady, but still ended up spending a LOT of time with her - poor guy. I still had a really good time in the class though. I don't know what it is about ballroom dancing, but I love it.

I've also decided that Roland was the second best guy to dance with in the class. The first would be the instructor (duh), but I'm pretty sure he could have made most people look good (just not loner lady, that would take a serious miracle on par with ongoing world peace). Also he is shorter than Roland and even in heels I'm a lot shorter than he is. This makes it difficult to 'lock elbows' with him for the Tango. The sunly ferious couple guy has a good frame (sorry Roland you have a tendency to droop just a tad when you are concentrating) and is not too tall, but he sort of bounces with each beat. Waltz and Tango are part of the *ahem* smooth ballroom dances, leave the bouncing for the club It's very distracting and hard to dance with. Plus he isn't nearly as good at the actual steps and the whole leading thing as Roland is. Roland pays a lot of attention to where the lady is and what he needs to do to make the dance work (yay Roland). The haven't-been-there-in-forever couple guy is mostly just lost. He doesn't really know the steps so that's hard to dance with and then he's pretty limp and sweaty. Mostly just yukkie. I felt like I was leading him most of the time. He also refuses to close with you, now due to the sweatiness that's a good thing, but to be actually dancing it is a really bad thing. The feriously sun couple guy was decent about holding you close and firmly enough to actually dance but still not a good as Roland.

I wonder if the instructor teaches a foxtrot or some other dance class in January. I know he teaches a salsa class, so maybe. I'm sure classes don't start until the mid to end of January so I guess I will have to wait for the brochure to come out.

That's the sound of me listening...

My parents are coming in just 10 days and I have been trying to figure out what sort of things to plan. My Mom suggested we go see the King Tut exhibit at the art museum, but it seems that tickets are all ready sold out for the times they will be here. I guess it's probably because a lot of people are on vacation then. Then she something Everglade-y so I found this which seemed to fit and looked pretty cool. I also found the Hurricane which would be right up my Dad's alley. Then I saw this tour which would be pretty sweet, Segways and all. I sort of feel like I should be calling to get reservations for stuff, but I'm just not sure what people would like and whatnot. But I'm also afraid that if I wait too much longer nothing will be available and then I will feel all guilty.

Right now I am watching Return of the King on DVD. Roland and I caught the first two on tv the other night and it felt wrong not to watch the last one. Although I kind of wish I had seen the first two on DVD because they leave out stuff, it's the shortened version, and there are commercials. This is one instance when I would like to have one of those ba-giant tvs like Roland's parents and Henry have. I also really really wish we had surround sound. I'm under the impression that having a center channel and all the peripherals would make it better for watching movies like this where the background ends up being hugely loud and the dialog whisper quiet. My denial about any hearing loss becomes harder to maintain. Unfortunately I don't know anything about speakers and surround sound. Anybody out there [Henry Bierman, Jason, or Karl (with a K) perhaps**] have anything to share about it. What does a person need and whatnot. I don't have a DVD player (only a PlayStation 2), and my receiver is about as old as they come. I was thinking, but again I know little to nothing about it, that I would want a new receiver that all the stuff could go through including the surround sound? Lay the info on me, my knowledgeable peeps.


**coincidence that all the techno-minded people I would think to ask also have blogs...I think not.

Meep Meep Me Meeeep

Once again Anne finds something totally cool. If I was still at the HSKC I would see about trying it there. They already have a sound system in place and it would a sweet experiment. Of course I would have to set it up all scientific like and be a complete nerd about it, but hey that is part of the charm of me. I bet a lot of the people there would think it was cool too; Shannon, Alicia, and Veronica for a few. Oh, just think of the edumacational havoc we could wreak on the unsuspecting public. I'm seeing tri-fold presentation boards, timers (there would have to be timers), clip boards and maybe some safety goggles and pocket protectors. Go ahead revel in the geek-itude.

Seriously

Possibly only funny to fellow crafters, my Sistrah pointed me to this.

Grind

We went to dance class again on Saturday morning. It was a little difficult since we had skipped two weeks in there but it was pretty cool in that we learned some more stuff that made it feel like we were actually dancing. We spent most of time on the tango, learning at sort of turn swivel thing. Then spent a little time on the waltz stuff we learned last time which was good since I totally didn't remember some of it. On the whole it does feel more familiar than the tango though. The whole leading thing is hard for me, in that I'm not doing it. I'm supposed to just sort of be there until Roland 'tells' me to do something. But it's so hard to just stand there and be ready for...anything, you just never know what is going on in that head of his. Plus being very new at this he doesn't necessarily know how best to tell me what to do next. Then again there were times when I danced with the instructor and didn't really know what he was trying to tell me either. We are down to two couples now, so we got a lot of personal attention. I wanted to go to the practice that our instructor does on Mondays, but we didn't end up getting there and I was kind of bummed about it. I don't necessarily get out much since we moved to Florida and going to Disney and going out pretty much every night reminded me that seeing people can be kind of fun. Especially people I know, and the people from class are the people that I have seen the most often here.

Jason called today (yay). We are still trying work out a visit with him. I really really want to go diving and hopefully take AOW with him. I don't think Roland is super interested in taking AOW so it would be nice to have someone to take the class with. I found out to get my dream job at Disney I will have to be a Dive Master with good videography skills, so I better get a move on ;)

Swish

It has been a relaxing day in ye olde apartment. I slept about forever last night. Roland even got up before me, although he returned to the bed chamber later for a nap of rather long proportions for normal people, but of average to short length for him. I made some spaghetti for dinner and it turned out pretty well. We have the tree turned on and are watching Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. A fine way to spend an evening if ever there was one. I'm getting excited about my parents coming to visit and wishing that Anne and Karl (with a K) were coming with them. Maybe they will come later next year to visit his family, which happen to live only about a half hour to 45 minutes north of us (I think). They did just go on a honeymoon though so I don't know how soon they would want to go on a trip again.

While we were at Disney we saw a bride and groom on one of the white sand beaches getting their pictures taken and there in the background was Cinderella's carriage and its 6 white Welsh Ponies. It made me wish I was ultra-rich and could afford to think about such extravagances. One of our tour guides said that the ultimate in Disney wedding is in the Magic Kingdom with you getting married in front of the castle and as you walk down main street you get your own personal fireworks show and you get there in a coach and all that jazz. This gem will run you...wait for it...$95,000. That gets a big giant whatever. I'm sure it would be very princess feeling though.

Merry Christmas to ME!

Today I got a super-great present from my Mom. She sent me some pfeffernuesse! For any who don't know, pfeffernuesse are small very hard cookies often enjoyed with coffee or other hot beverage. They are flavored with dark karo syrup and are totally and completely addictive (Kate Leggett used to claim we put crack in there somewhere). My Mom makes them every year and as I grew up we used to make them together. Each recipe makes a ga-zillion cookies and takes quite a few hours to make so working together with someone really makes it more fun. And the dough is pretty tasty too! She usually makes some to have her students taste (being German cookies and all) and I seem to be the lucky beneficiary of some of those. I'm not sure about how long they will last as I can't seem to stop eating them. Mmmmm so tasty!

Doo-ta-da-doooo and da-ta-da-daaaa

Lets get this out of the way first thing:

1. I am a certified scuba diver and would love to become a professional diver.

2. I have an extensive background in music, both instrumental and choral.

3. I enjoy Judo (only at a beginner level...so no Jason, I don't want to fight you, you can still kick my ass) although I haven't been able to participate in it for quite a while.

I am not a lesbian (oops, did having a husband give it away?)

4. I like puzzles.

5. I'm crafty in all kinds of ways including; sewing, knitting, cross-stitch, gardening (when I had a bit of earth), baking (no so much with the cooking), building things etc.



We have triumphantly returned (princess waves all around, elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, wrist or whatever). Roland and I just got back from a visit to Disney World with his folks and two of their friends. It was a great time, but it was hard to leave. When we moved down here we knew in the back of our minds that we would get to go home for my sisters wedding and then see Roland's family this past week. My parents are coming down for a visit right after Christmas so at least there is that to look forward to. After that, no plans in the foreseeable future. It was so nice to talk to someone I know.

We also got to visit Disney so that was sweet. The living seas was open this time as we got to see Turtle Time with Crush which is absolutely incredible! This attraction consists of a smallish theater (maybe 100 people? I'm not great at that kind of estimating) and a giant screen at the front that shows a scene underwater. Then Crush (from Finding Nemo) comes along and talks with you. The totally awesome part? He is talking to you, the audience that is in that room. He picks out kids from the audience by appearance (the little dude-ette with the brown hair and red shell with stripes down her fins and so on). Then he takes question from the little ones and asks some of his own. It is very funny! I loved it. I think we went back 3 or 4 times. Definitely a must see...along with Soarin'. And Mickey's PhilharMagic is awesome too, yeah, pretty much the whole place.

We went on a Keys to the Kingdom tour in the Magic Kingdom and learned all sorts of neat stuff and a Behind the Seeds tour at Epcot and learned some nerdly cool stuff about the greenhouses. I can't remember which one, but one of the tour guides said they are going to change Soarin' here in Florida to either be flying over Florida or possibly flying over the world. So they will just have flying over California at Disney Land. Over at MGM we got a chance to see Lights, Motors, Action. Sa-weet. I haven't the foggiest how people can drive cars like that, but it sure is fun to watch. We also heard that they are planning on tearing out the coaster in Space Mountain and replacing it with a new one about a new mission to space, and tearing out the guts of Spaceship Earth (the giant golf ball one) for an update.

We did get to go diving again. I just love it, I come out feeling so relaxed. There were all sorts of people to play with and some great sharks (one almost 9 feet long). The giant sea turtle was being lazy and didn't come out to be seen, but the rays were very playful. I ended up swimming with a school of fish for a while which was way cool. They are still working on the new ride at the front of the Seas pavilion so that was closed off, but the observation deck was open and they have a couple of rehabilitating manatees that were pretty huge (they aren't in the tank you can dive in). They apparently recently got two more dolphins but we didn't see any of the four. The tour leader said they were spending a lot of time in their backstage tank figuring out their new pod pecking order.

Anyway, my thoughts are all jumbled together and not coming out very coherently so I'm going to take a breather. Later, dude!

No day...

Roland is done with classes now and has had a buncha, buncha meeting this week. Right now I'm waiting for him to come home from one of them. We are planning on going to the movies tonight. We are going to see Rent at the same theater where we say Harry Potter. It is sort of a make up date because the last time we went to see Rent I was ill, seriously ill. I shouldn't have been out of bed, let alone at a play, but I so totally wanted to go that I got dressed up and we went. I had to lean on Roland to walk and was heavily medicated. The play was really good and I was glad I went, but I am sure that I missed a great deal of details due to the blurred vision and dizziness.