House Notebook

The holidays are over and it's time to get serious. It's time to haul out all the crap that got stuffed in cupboards, drawers, and closets as we prepped for hosting holiday parties. And as I think about doing that stuff there's a lot of other stuff I'd like to get done. Stuff that needs to get done before it gets nice and we want to spend time outside.

So here it is -- stuff I'd love to get done before the snow melts:

- Patch cracks in drywall (1 living room, 1 bedroom, 1 basement stairwell, 1 hallway) and nail pops in ceiling

- Do a major clean of all rooms. Clean out junk and only leave essentials. Put the rest in the barn for the spring Relay For Life of Lowell garage sale fundraiser.

- Get Rico to build the cabinets for the "new" laundry room (and when I say "new" I mean 1 year old) and finish the beadboard and trim.

- Clean couch upholstery (and figure out where we're going to put the couch now that it's been displaced by the treadmill).

- Scan old photos and eliminate prints not displayed. If you never look at them what's the point of having them sitting in a cupboard?

- Continue purging "holiday" decorations and paraphernalia. Too much, too, too much stuff. (And I'm not just talking Christmas stuff.)

- Sell Polish pottery that I don't use.

- Pare down dishes in kitchen -- too many extra sets of dishes and way too many bowls.

- Repaint master bath and add tile above the shower unit.

- Clean out cabinets in bedroom. Purge, purge, purge.

And then when the snow melts.....

A big blogging break...

A big break in blogging was started because of an eventful Thanksgiving week in 2010:

We had Chinese food on Tuesday night, and Rico had an upset stomach all night. Then Wednesday -- when he was supposed to be cleaning the house prepping for our big family dinner when we were hosting 20+ of my closest relatives -- he was busy tossing his cookies all morning, and we were thinking it was food poisoning or the flu.

Then he did tossed 'em again a bit in the afternoon. Then again when I got home from work. Then a TON at midnight. You're not supposed to go to the doctor for the flu, so we didn't. But then when my sister, the nurse came over she took one look at him and said he needed to go to the ER. So she took him. Thank goodness for sisters who are good in medical emergencies (because I am so, so not -- there's a reason I didn't go into nursing).

After several hours in ER (and a few funny stories of how you can bi-pass the triage area and go right to a bed) Rico ended up getting admitted that night with internal bleeding. I relieved my sister later in the afternoon, once the emergent situation was under control. Yes, I'm a wuss. I freely admit it. We all have our strengths.

Rico had a upper GI scope the next morning and it showed a tear where the esophagus and stomach join up (from tossing his cookies so hard and so frequently). Luckily it had stopped bleeding so they didn't have to do anything else. And we got a couple of really nifty souvenir photos of the scope (SCORE!).

So he was in the hospital, missing the big game in Detroit (high school state football finals) and eating hospital food that day. We were hoping that he'd be able to come home, but his first two blood draws after the procedure didn't show enough improvement. Then we were looking at the need for a transfusion. Ugh. Luckily his evening blood draw showed an improvement -- and he got to come home around 9:30 p.m. So we had our Thanksgiving dinner a couple of days late. :) How was your holiday?

The next week was spent keeping an eye on Rico and trying to get him to eat as may high-iron foods as possible, and getting him to rest and relax. That was work in and of itself. He's not a good relaxer. At. All.

So that was blogging absence #1. Then, a couple of weeks later my dad's oldest sister suffered a massive stroke while at bible study. Aunt D didn't recover, so December brought sadness and a funeral. My dad delivered a beautiful eulogy.

The Christmas holiday saw us all pulling together for our family's 50th annual Christmas Eve gathering and remembering Aunt D and all she did for us:
- my mom made deviled eggs for our party (Aunt D's normal dish-to-pass)
- Rico made Aunt D's queso dip recipe
- my brother and sister-in-law bought all the kids boxes of movie candy (and Aunt D tradition)
- my cousin J gave shoulder rubs (Aunt D's way of connecting with each of us)
- all the guys (and a few of the girls) gathered on our front porch to sing carols (again, Aunt D)
- we all spent time looking through boxes of photos that Aunt D had stored (which I am in the process of scanning so we can all have copies)

So that's it. The holidays.
Bring on 2011.

Thanksgiving

My favorite holiday. I just love Thanksgiving. Julia from "The World is my Oyster" has a fun thing on her blog (like that description? Thing. I can't figure out what to call it -- oh wait! Post. It's a "post" not a thing.)





Let's try that again... Julia from "The World is My Oyster" has a fun blog topic: Stuffing blanks instead of Turkey. Let's go:



1. My Thanksgiving plans this year will include hosting the family dinner -- my extended family and my aunt and cousins for the turkey dinner with all the fixings. Then turkey sandwiches several hours later when the rest of the cousins come from their first meal.


2. My favorite Thanksgiving was ... hard to narrow down to just one, really. It's my favorite holiday: family, great food, relaxing. Better even than Christmas in my book (except that on Christmas we have beef brisket, which I much prefer over turkey).



3. My signature Thanksgiving dish is Pritz Pie. It may not be spelled correctly, because it's a Dutch word. I once attempted to make a cheesecake that I'd found a recipe for in a magazine. Keep in mind that I don't cook. Ever, really. But for some reason I thought I'd give it a shot. Impress everybody. That. So. Didn't. Happen. I'm not exactly sure what I did wrong (besides attempt to spend time in the kitchen) but nobody would try it. Not even me. Finally my Aunt Coral caved and tried a bit. She promptly ran to the trash can and spit it out. Much laughing ensued and it ended up with the name Pritz (which I'm sure mean's tastes-like-shit in Dutch) Pie. I was so traumatized by the whole thing I haven't stepped foot in the kitchen since.



4. My favorite Thanksgiving food is my Aunt Coral's homemade stuffing. Yum, yum, yum. But generally speaking I like almost all of the TG side dishes. What a feast.



5. Thanksgiving free association! Stuffing... cranberry... pecan pie... Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin cheesecake... Chicago... cold... snow on Thanksgiving... playing bball outside on a warm TG with my cousins.



6. Thanksgiving is about family and food fest.

7. I am thankful for so many things, but family, friends, and good health top the list.

This is what my niece is making for decorations this year -- an apple turkey!Fatherhood site at About.com

I've been to the Thumb!

It's true, I've been to the thumb. This likely has no meaning for you if you're not from Michigan -- the mitten state. But if you are then you probably know just what I'm talking about. Rico and I went to a wedding this weekend in the THUMB of Michigan -- in Bad Axe. Hold up your left hand... then take your right hand and point a the middle right edge of your thumb nail. That's where we were for Danielle and Aaron's wedding.

This is the happy couple just after they said they're "I Do's" -- this blurry photo courtesy of Rico (how, how, how can nearly every pic he takes be blurry?). Don't they look happy?


She was beautiful -- and her dress was stunning. Sophisticated, and gorgeous, and just so Danielle. OMG if I was a I've-always-dreamed-about-my-wedding-day kind of girl this dress would be the one I would have picked -- well, that is if I was a size 2 and perfectly proportioned like Danielle.

It was the most beautiful wedding dress I've ever seen. Gorgeous cream color. Beautifully beaded with pearls. A graceful silhouette with just a bit of tulle floating out at the bottom. Stunning. Here they are surrounded by the our American Cancer Society crew -- Danielle used to live in G.R. and work at the ACS office there. (we miss her!). Aaron lured her back to the thumb -- where they both grew up -- and that's where they make their home now. G.R.'s loss is Ubly's gain.

It was a pleasure to be a part of their big day. All the best to the lovebirds!

Zebra. Really?

The girl wants her room redone. Have I mentioned this before? The main theme she's requested is based on her favorite animal. The zebra. Oy!

Animal prints were strictly taboo in our house growing up -- my mom absolutely hates, hates, hates them. No way, no how, no animal print -- or anything even remotely resembling one was permitted.

As a result, I'm thinkin', I'm not all that fond of them either. But the girl is a fashionable tween and she has definate ideas on how she wants her room redone.


I'm all about vibrant colors -- fresh and lively -- coral, greens, yellow, oranges, shots of pink. But, alas, Auntie M (that's me) has no vote in this room makeover. Zebra. And purple. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh. In a fairly small space. Just thinking of it makes me think dark and dreary, and I was picturing stuff like this...

And believe me there's plenty of this kind of stuff available (this courtesy of Amazon.com). Is is just me, or does this look really oppressive?

So I hit the web to see how these two color/pattern requests could work together in a fresh way. I gotta admit it's tough. But I keep digging through websites hoping to find something that appeals to me -- all the while keeping the girl's more sophisticated style in mind.

I have to admit that it's hard to grasp that hip, latina, fashion-queen, paint-em-on-skinny-jean-wearing-vibe when I'm a polar-fleece and well-worn-jeans kind of girl. S-t-r-e-t-c-h, stretch, stretching.

I found some nice looking sets that have zebra influences in horchow.com:

Majella Marzipan is nice, but it's not purple, and it may not be fashion-forward enough for her -- I think it's a bit too sophisticated and not enough "attitude":

I really like the one called "Aubrey" -- but holy-Horchow we can't afford these prices -- so this might be a contender for how we use zebra and purple but make it pop with some other colors or patterned fabrics. Lively-er. than just purple zebra, don't you think?
So the quest has begun. Zebras for all!

Grace

Grace: favor or goodwill; mercy

Let there be grace. For all. Let there be mercy, favor, goodwill. So many people I know are experiencing challenges these days. Unemployment. Health issues. Relationship woes. Financial stress.

There are times when it seems so unrelenting that we all wonder WHEN better times will come back 'round. Really, when will they? There don't seem to be easy answers for any of the issues I'm seeing in the lives of friends and family.

So let there be grace. Let us show mercy on ourselves and others. Let us show goodwill towards one another. Let us do what we can to help each other through difficult times, especially when so many are struggling right now.

Grace.

The winds of grace are always blowing,
but you have to raise the sail. ~ Ramakrisha

Ahhhh, weddings

This fall is full of weddings for us. The first one was this weekend in G.R., when Rico's cousin, Dillon, married her love, Sammit -- TWICE


The lovebirds met when Dillon was in highschool (just like Rico and I). Seven years later they got married. It was such a sweet ceremony -- both times. They actually wed during their rehearsal, where it was intimate and about them rather than the drama of the "wedding day"). Here they are moving in to seal the deal after getting married on Friday...

And here they are after the big to-do on Saturday -- Indian Barat, Irish blessing, big dress for her and full-on Indian wedding garb for him, carriage ride, and all.

Rico's parents, who are actually Dillon's aunt/uncle, were the "Grandparents" for Dillon since her grandparents passed away long ago. Here are Ardis and Bill with their grandkids after they sent the happy couple off for a carriage ride around downtown: And here they are on their wedding day (oh so many years ago, 1964 I think):
Their marriage led to two boys, and those two boys led to two girls who were sisters...



And that led to two boys and two sisters getting married (yes, I know, it's freakishly odd). The younger set married first at Ardis and Bills B&B -- can you guess when this was?

This lovely little flower girl is Dillon (this weekend's bride ) in that wedding many moons ago:
And then much later the older boy and girl married in uber-casual style -- NOT this...

Yes, that's Rico and I on the far right when we were "bests" in their wedding...

But rather this beach wedding that started with us sending just our immediate families on a scavenger hunt where they arrived at our wedding. Hows that for a winning prize? Aren't we funny?

Small, intimate, about us, and not the "wedding" stuff... alot like Dillon and Sammit on Friday.

Ahhh, weddings. To each his own.

And just because I can, and because I know my sis will LOVE it (not) I'll leave you with this:

Isn't she SO cute?