Sunday, November 26, 2006
"What the heck is a barn-box?"
I decided to write all this on this blog because the blue and white remind me more of snow, and thus of the Christmas season. Plus there's the fact that I've grossly neglected this.
My Thanksgiving was good, which it couldn't help but be as it is my favorite holiday, filled with a day of food and family, followed by a day of shopping and competition in the form of slight episodes of violence. I went down to Lindon because we had Thanksgiving at my oldest sister's house. It wasn't the McSomethingkins' year, and because my mom's side lives mostly out of the state, it was just my immediate family. Of course, all my siblings are married and most of them have kids, and considering I only had one sibling not present...it wasn't a bad turn out. First things first I sat with my sisters and we plotted our strategy for Black Friday, whilst we waited for the food to finish cooking. I guess you can only get all of the store ads if you actually take the paper; you can't get all of them when you buy it individually. Anyway, the food was delicious, with the exception that I wasn't a fan of the yams, which is sad because they're my favorite food of all time. My mom experimented with a recipe off of the internet, which everyone else absolutely loved, and in essence consisted of using orange juice. It completely drowned out the taste of the yams, which I like, and the sweetness of all the sugar. I can't convey the amount of sadness that I felt at that moment. Think raisins. On the bright side, the turkey was quite tasty. I don't like turkey much, but it was moist and delicious. I was surprised, but really I was more pleased with the fact that my brother-in-law didn't deep fry it again, like the year before last. My oldest sister burnt just the top of the pumpkin pie a little bit, and I told her she probably ruined Thanksgiving; but it actually tasted really good. I made a chocolate cheese cake. At the end of the meal I somehow ended up stuck in Lindon for hours, because my mom and sister had to take my Grandma to buy a tree and home; not an easy task. But I did get to hang out with my nieces and nephews, which I don't regret at all. I won Doll Face at air hockey, and Messe had a computer program called "Line Jumper" that was basically drawing lines, and once he had drawn something complicated he pushed play, which caused a little skate boarding person to ride the lines and perform jumps and loops. My attempts at this usually ended with the little man crashing into something, or falling off into space. I should have brought Killer Bunnies, but I didn't think. In other news, my one-year-old niece wouldn't let me put her down. Quite the departure from only liking me when I had food, which was the case not all that long ago. She did steal my cookie, and my drink, but every once in a while she stopped eating it to generously offer me some of her newly commandeered cookie. So adorable now.
Friday I got to go shopping with 3 of my sisters. We had an absolute blast, beginning at the Fred Meyer sock sale, 4: 30 am sharp. I accidentally bumped into a granny on the rush into Fred Meyer at 5 am, but we got out of there with a new all-time high in quickness. It was the men's' Christmas socks that held me up--I can never find them because they end up in a new spot every year. Normally we would sort through everything in line that we sort of just threw into our bags (of the grocery and garbage variety, because carts clog the isles and slow you down) without thinking. But without the wait in the monstrously long line it was difficult. Luckily I didn't spend much this year, in comparison to past years anyway, and everyone's guesses went over the amount I spent--a little game we play. Running into Target me and my little sis were yelling "GO! go!" at each other, and making a spectacle in general, and unbeknownst to us that's where the news cameras were placed. I wouldn't be surprised if that ended up on the news as a demonstration of the amount of crazy people out on the morning of the day-after-Thanksgiving sales. My second oldest sister fell into a shelf full of board games. This was after she bumped into it, knocking many down. I was laughing to hard to help her out, so strangers had to do it. Some guy yelled "yes!" really excitedly when it happened. Seriously; moments like that are the true reason people like shopping on Black Friday. Whilst my little sis and I were watching all this happen, we were actually kind of trapped in an isle, so even if I hadn't been laughing helping would have been out of the question. A bunch of little Elmo chairs fell on the ground and started vibrating on our legs during all of the chaos; I felt rather violated. We hit 6 stores in two hours. I bought a new camera, which is really just a suped up version of my old camera, but it was dirt cheap, and I sold my old one to my sister. The green focus boxes are back, which is important (When my dad and I took apart my old camera to put on a new button, that feature was lost). After all the craziness I got a McGriddle and sat at my parents' house, watching the episode I missed on Thanksgiving of Slutty ER on the internet. I went to Graywhale later that day for double the savings and bought some excellent new music. All in all, a good Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
Saturday I helped Sheidi paint her kitchen with the help of Gus, this kid at work who has one of the most awesome senses of humor I've ever met. So does his roommate, who was also there. We decided the previous color was "Construction Worker Ugly," or basically just a blinding shade of orange. We sponged over it a burnt sienna color, and I still have orange paint on my elbow that I can't get to come off. It was actually a lot of fun, and Gus's roommate tried out my new camera by taking pictures of absolutely everyone and everything. I like pictures, so the ones not of paint in the drain and onions in a basket are ones I'll keep and enjoy, and no work on my part to get them...Nice. Then we ate my left-over cheesecake and the boys had to leave, but I still went to the movies with Sheidi, rather than doing my homework. I really needed a break from school this weekend. Now I need to grit my teeth and get through the remaining 2 and a half weeks of school.
My Thanksgiving was good, which it couldn't help but be as it is my favorite holiday, filled with a day of food and family, followed by a day of shopping and competition in the form of slight episodes of violence. I went down to Lindon because we had Thanksgiving at my oldest sister's house. It wasn't the McSomethingkins' year, and because my mom's side lives mostly out of the state, it was just my immediate family. Of course, all my siblings are married and most of them have kids, and considering I only had one sibling not present...it wasn't a bad turn out. First things first I sat with my sisters and we plotted our strategy for Black Friday, whilst we waited for the food to finish cooking. I guess you can only get all of the store ads if you actually take the paper; you can't get all of them when you buy it individually. Anyway, the food was delicious, with the exception that I wasn't a fan of the yams, which is sad because they're my favorite food of all time. My mom experimented with a recipe off of the internet, which everyone else absolutely loved, and in essence consisted of using orange juice. It completely drowned out the taste of the yams, which I like, and the sweetness of all the sugar. I can't convey the amount of sadness that I felt at that moment. Think raisins. On the bright side, the turkey was quite tasty. I don't like turkey much, but it was moist and delicious. I was surprised, but really I was more pleased with the fact that my brother-in-law didn't deep fry it again, like the year before last. My oldest sister burnt just the top of the pumpkin pie a little bit, and I told her she probably ruined Thanksgiving; but it actually tasted really good. I made a chocolate cheese cake. At the end of the meal I somehow ended up stuck in Lindon for hours, because my mom and sister had to take my Grandma to buy a tree and home; not an easy task. But I did get to hang out with my nieces and nephews, which I don't regret at all. I won Doll Face at air hockey, and Messe had a computer program called "Line Jumper" that was basically drawing lines, and once he had drawn something complicated he pushed play, which caused a little skate boarding person to ride the lines and perform jumps and loops. My attempts at this usually ended with the little man crashing into something, or falling off into space. I should have brought Killer Bunnies, but I didn't think. In other news, my one-year-old niece wouldn't let me put her down. Quite the departure from only liking me when I had food, which was the case not all that long ago. She did steal my cookie, and my drink, but every once in a while she stopped eating it to generously offer me some of her newly commandeered cookie. So adorable now.
Friday I got to go shopping with 3 of my sisters. We had an absolute blast, beginning at the Fred Meyer sock sale, 4: 30 am sharp. I accidentally bumped into a granny on the rush into Fred Meyer at 5 am, but we got out of there with a new all-time high in quickness. It was the men's' Christmas socks that held me up--I can never find them because they end up in a new spot every year. Normally we would sort through everything in line that we sort of just threw into our bags (of the grocery and garbage variety, because carts clog the isles and slow you down) without thinking. But without the wait in the monstrously long line it was difficult. Luckily I didn't spend much this year, in comparison to past years anyway, and everyone's guesses went over the amount I spent--a little game we play. Running into Target me and my little sis were yelling "GO! go!" at each other, and making a spectacle in general, and unbeknownst to us that's where the news cameras were placed. I wouldn't be surprised if that ended up on the news as a demonstration of the amount of crazy people out on the morning of the day-after-Thanksgiving sales. My second oldest sister fell into a shelf full of board games. This was after she bumped into it, knocking many down. I was laughing to hard to help her out, so strangers had to do it. Some guy yelled "yes!" really excitedly when it happened. Seriously; moments like that are the true reason people like shopping on Black Friday. Whilst my little sis and I were watching all this happen, we were actually kind of trapped in an isle, so even if I hadn't been laughing helping would have been out of the question. A bunch of little Elmo chairs fell on the ground and started vibrating on our legs during all of the chaos; I felt rather violated. We hit 6 stores in two hours. I bought a new camera, which is really just a suped up version of my old camera, but it was dirt cheap, and I sold my old one to my sister. The green focus boxes are back, which is important (When my dad and I took apart my old camera to put on a new button, that feature was lost). After all the craziness I got a McGriddle and sat at my parents' house, watching the episode I missed on Thanksgiving of Slutty ER on the internet. I went to Graywhale later that day for double the savings and bought some excellent new music. All in all, a good Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
Saturday I helped Sheidi paint her kitchen with the help of Gus, this kid at work who has one of the most awesome senses of humor I've ever met. So does his roommate, who was also there. We decided the previous color was "Construction Worker Ugly," or basically just a blinding shade of orange. We sponged over it a burnt sienna color, and I still have orange paint on my elbow that I can't get to come off. It was actually a lot of fun, and Gus's roommate tried out my new camera by taking pictures of absolutely everyone and everything. I like pictures, so the ones not of paint in the drain and onions in a basket are ones I'll keep and enjoy, and no work on my part to get them...Nice. Then we ate my left-over cheesecake and the boys had to leave, but I still went to the movies with Sheidi, rather than doing my homework. I really needed a break from school this weekend. Now I need to grit my teeth and get through the remaining 2 and a half weeks of school.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Happy Post
Yesterday I went to tea with my little sister and Duckling for her birthday. My sister's that it. I forget how silly she is when I'm away from her, but remember right away when I see her again. I had quite a good time, and for a time forgot all about the horrible day I'd had at work. They brought us cucumber water with our tea, which made my day, and there were no shortage of apple/cream cheese finger sandwiches. There was a damper thrown in the amount of scones, but I never finish it all anyway, so I didn't mind too much. We talked about her work experiences at the bank she now works at (where my older sister also works), made fun of people taking engagement photos while wearing sweater vests, and ultimately had a right old riot of a time. I love talking to certain people about everything and nothing at all. I think one of the best stories was that of my 3 year old nephew, who Muffin was watching at her in-laws house the other day, which is where she lives. They were downstairs and suddenly he announced that he wanted to go upstairs and play with "grandma." My sister informed him that she wasn't his grandma, but was in fact Kyle's mom. He then heatedly said, "she's my grandma and I love her." That kid is so randomly funny sometimes. And out of control. I told him I'd send him to China the other day if he didn't stop kicking me in the leg while I was pushing him in a shopping cart. He stopped needless to say. About 15 minutes later, somewhat out of the blue, he said to no one in particular, "I don't want to go to China." His mother was confused. I think I let her stay that way.
That night I spent hours at the grocery store picking out things I needed to buy to make food for my Sunday potluck. I've bought things for at least the last 4 consecutive times, and I felt bad. It was a Southern style potluck, and after hearing all the other things that were being brought, I didn't want to get too badly shown up. So I made chicken marinated in buttermilk, and battered, and also a pecan pie. Unfortunately I accidentally left the oven setting on "broil," and I don't think it cooked right. Ultimately it didn't matter, because I dropped it when I got to work. It had tinfoil over the top, so it was still good, just not pretty. I was sad, but Leon brought two pecan pies, so I think it was for the best. I'm baking it right now on super low heat to see if it will ever get done. I should probably go check on that.
Friday night I finally got my birthday dinner. It was me, my parents, and Muffin and her hubby. Basically they were taking her out for her birthday, and I got invited probably out of pity. Just kidding; I deserved it. I love the chicken scampi there, and the cheese cake. Turns out that is the Olive Garden my roommate works at, so she came over and said hi and met the fam. The food was good, our waiter was slightly forgetful, and I got home really late that night. It was a nice night, but I also learned that my dad had a lot of heart tests done lately, and they didn't come out so well. Surgery is pretty likely, and it freaks me out. I decided long ago that my dad needs to live forever, so he'd better not let me down. That's actually not very happy in a happy post, but I did enjoy spending time with my family. And tomorrow is Friday, so praises to that.
That night I spent hours at the grocery store picking out things I needed to buy to make food for my Sunday potluck. I've bought things for at least the last 4 consecutive times, and I felt bad. It was a Southern style potluck, and after hearing all the other things that were being brought, I didn't want to get too badly shown up. So I made chicken marinated in buttermilk, and battered, and also a pecan pie. Unfortunately I accidentally left the oven setting on "broil," and I don't think it cooked right. Ultimately it didn't matter, because I dropped it when I got to work. It had tinfoil over the top, so it was still good, just not pretty. I was sad, but Leon brought two pecan pies, so I think it was for the best. I'm baking it right now on super low heat to see if it will ever get done. I should probably go check on that.
Friday night I finally got my birthday dinner. It was me, my parents, and Muffin and her hubby. Basically they were taking her out for her birthday, and I got invited probably out of pity. Just kidding; I deserved it. I love the chicken scampi there, and the cheese cake. Turns out that is the Olive Garden my roommate works at, so she came over and said hi and met the fam. The food was good, our waiter was slightly forgetful, and I got home really late that night. It was a nice night, but I also learned that my dad had a lot of heart tests done lately, and they didn't come out so well. Surgery is pretty likely, and it freaks me out. I decided long ago that my dad needs to live forever, so he'd better not let me down. That's actually not very happy in a happy post, but I did enjoy spending time with my family. And tomorrow is Friday, so praises to that.
