Hap-Happiest Season of All

So, blogging at work is not a productive use of my paid time. However, I am doing it this morning to tell you a few things:
*Adelaide ate our laptop's power cable, thus the necessity to blog at work. I hope this is a sufficient excuse for my recent blogging silence.
*I pass a bread factory every morning on my way to work. I hope every day that I get stopped by the light on its corner so I can sit there and smell the deliciousness.
*Since we have abnormally tall ceilings at home, we got a 9 foot Christmas tree. We finished decorating it last night and it looks b-e-a-utiful. Again, the lack of home computing may delay any picture posting.
*Lastly, I want to blog all the delicious things we made/are making for the holidays because I have been so excited about them. We made Thanksgiving dinner for Josh's resident team that had to work Thanksgiving night. We made the whole shebang from scratch and dropped it off for them to discover in their break room. I hear it went over well. For Josh's family, we made homemade spinach dip (which we will repeat for Joe & Meg's party tomorrow), pumpkin cinnamon rolls, and the traditional green bean casserole (love it!). I made two different soups with the leftovers, both delicious, one creamy and the other tomato-y. Tonight I'm making apple flautas for my fiesta-themed work Christmas party and tomorrow I'm whipping together dinner rolls, a pumpkin pie, and that dip again for the Ibanez's party. I think I'm happiest in the kitchen.
*I know I said "lastly" already, but this is horrificly hilarious. The Red Cross is collecting Christmas cards to send overseas to soldiers. One of them read as follows, "Dear soldier, thank you for giving your life for our country. And if you don't die, I'm happy for you. You are very brave. Love, Susie. P.S. Merry Christmas!"

A Night In

This week, Josh will be gone every night on call for labor and delivery. I need to find some projects to keep me busy. Some ideas -
I finished Lindsey's quilt last week, so I think I want a break from sewing projects. I do have a coat pattern that I want to make, though.
I miss writing songs, though they were never very good, I wish I could get back into the groove.
Maybe I'll start by keeping a journal again.
We bought a stair step today, I'll probably start training for next summer's trip up the three 14ers.

It's been a nice homey week. We've had lots of tea, spent time with family, and planned house projects. We got our tickets to Portland for Christmas. We leave 12/23 and we get to spend a solid week and a half. We'll be there for at least part of my mom's birthday, we'll leave the afternoon of the 4th. Hurray!

Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. We're having Josh's four teenage girl cousins stay over for a night. I anticipate lots of giggling.

Lili Marleen

Last Thursday on the 60th floor of the CitiPlex Towers (Thanks, Oral!), I got to play for the Red Cross Volunteer Recognition Dinner. I played old jazz songs mostly, and threw in a little James Taylor of course. But the coolest part of the gig was the uniform that I mentioned before. The 93 year old woman to whom the uniform belonged during WWII came to the dinner. I got to sit at a table with her, and she looked so proud. We honored her during the presentation and I sang her favorite WWII song, Lili Marleen. She had her little handkerchief and was dabbing her eyes. It was so neat to be able to do that for her! The whole night was just wonderful!

That quilt I'm making wasn't done on Saturday, but I took it to the baby shower anyway so I didn't have to show up empty handed. After she opened it, I told Lindsey, "I'm gonna need that back." She got a big kick out of that, and I left with my present. I'll finish it in time for her baby, she's still got a month to go.

I'm working on altering an actual prom dress to be an eighties prom dress for a friend for Halloween. So, I have to finish it by Friday to take to work (along with a pot of minestrone soup - unrelated, but worth mentioning because it's delicious). I'm turning it into a bubble dress with netting sticking out from the bottom. It's gonna be real.

Tonight, after I eat homemade zucchini bread and homemade vegetable soup (I love fall!), I'm going to buy pumpkins so we can carve 'em tomorrow. I'm pumped! (Get it?!?)

And finally, Adelaide learned to dig this week. Flower gardens beware!

One of the Cutest Things I've Ever Seen

And I didn't have a camera! So imagine if you will...

Josh walking through our neighborhood holding Adelaide's leash by the middle so she learns to stay close. And following closely behind is our 19 mo. old niece holding the leash's end "walking Josh and Ada." I know. It's adorable.

Adelaide is pretty sharp. We've had her for just over a week, and she's already learned the command, "sit." Now we're working on, "I know it's exciting, but you don't have to pee everytime Josh comes into the room." She just loves him so much she can't hold it in.

Otherwise, I've just been quilting trying to get ready for a baby shower on Saturday. So far, I have just two squares sewn together. Will I make it? Oh, this one's a nail-biter!

Neglect

Things I have neglected:
1. This blog
2. Settling on a name for the dog we're getting TOMORROW!
3. Paying attention to the debate last night (I fully intended to, but I had friends from work come over and we had some wine and got to chatting over the vp candidates)
4. Quilting

Things I've been doing instead:
1. Going to the Tulsa State Fair
2. Gardening with Josh
3. Cooking delicious food (if I may say so myself)
4. Practicing 40 old jazz songs for a dinner gig

Extra fact about my dinner gig:
I get to wear a 1940s Red Cross uniform (I'll look like an Andrews sister - google it) while playing my guitar and singing delightful music for a few hundred people.

You Tell Me

I went to play volleyball tonight at a church in Sapulpa. I was on a team with some of the girls from work who play regularly. They let me fill in for a missing player. Now, there was a setter on the team that was struggling all night. She never called the ball, she rarely put it in the right place, and she was rarely in the right place herself. Now, I'm not a professional setter by any means, but that was the position I played, and it's my very favorite part. So, near the end, after watching her fumble all night, I thought, "I bet she's not the setter, but is just playing it because someone is missing. If that's the case, I wonder if she'd switch with me." So I decided to ask. You tell me - was I an inadvertant jerk? Because this is what happened:
Me, as we rotate - "Are you the regular setter for the team, or are you filling in?"
Her - "No, I'm the setter."
Me - "Oh, 'cause... good job..."
Later, when almost everyone was gone, I asked if I could set for a couple rounds because it's my favorite. She shot me down saying she needed the practice. No argument there. But I get the impression that she wasn't very happy with my existence.

Also, this weekend in Oregon was wonderful. The best 39.5 hours ever! We went to Shari's, Baja Fresh, Powell's (we got 6 or 7 books for only $35), my cousin's wedding to hang out with quite a few Higleys, an REI used gear sale (we got a pack for our dog for more than 50% off), good ol' BNC, and of course Happy Panda. We played board games with my family and with Jason and Melissa. We got to see Sam and Bryce, who told us all about various animals and the sounds they make. It was chock-full of awesome. Just the way I like my weekends.

My voting decision

The Republican National Convention was on OETA during Nova time. I hurried home planning to watch a documentary about Hitler's secret sunken ship. I blame John McCain. Decision '08 - taken care of for me.