Short Video

I know, I know, I need to do a complete Christmas post. (And a Thanksgiving post. And a Halloween one. Ahem.)

But here is a brief video of Olive sitting with Grandpa Russ on Christmas Day.

Milo's First Stocking

1:15pm - Survey crafting area. Hmmm. Lots of baby stuff.

1:16pm - Much better.

Ready for The Stocking Slash Crafting Event 2010. But wait—something's missing...

1:18pm - Ambience. I'm missing ambience.

1:25pm - Uh oh, baby's awake and he's coming this wa1zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzRRRRRRTttg

1:26pm - Must move ambience. It is a choking hazard.

1:36pm - Daddy came for baby. Where was I? Oh, right. Stocking. Must gather supplies.

1:38pm - Begin tracing existing stocking. So far so good.

1:43pm - Tracing complete. Now where did I put that candy? I mean, ambience.

1:45pm - Size check. Looks just right for this little guy's first Christmas.

1:49pm - Milo back. Decide to not stop him from hitting the keyboard and instead grab camera.

1:50pm - Decide to not delete Milo's first typing. He is brilliant, no?

A!!!!!!!!!~~~~~~AQq ``````````````````````````````````````````````AWQQQQQQ W A `11111AXQAW

1:52pm - Pins: good idea or not? Will try pins.

2:17pm - Ack, the distractions! Finished nursing Milo. Time to get back to business.

2:18pm - Must move cat first.

2:20pm - Ready to cut!

2:22pm - Zadie watches. More cat sabotage in store?

2:26pm - Cat attacks! Why does she hate Christmas so?

2:31pm - Two pieces of felt, ready to become a stocking.

2:31:30 - Note the time. Wonder how come crafting takes so long.

2:40pm - Turn pieces inside out so red outline won't show.

2:41pm - Damn. It shows. Attempt to trim it off.

2:42pm - Give up. Decide red outline gives the stocking holiday ambience.

2:42:30pm - Speaking of ambience...

2:48pm - Gluing going well. Last time there was hot glue. This time tacky glue. People who craft, tell me: which is the better choice? Maybe the sewing-machine type of glue is really best. But I don't know how to use that kind.

2:56pm - Gluing complete. Taking a quick timeout to play with Milo.

7:30pm - Well. Back to work. Break was longer than expected.

7:31pm - Survey crafting area. Hmm. Lots of baby stuff.

7:32pm - Much better. Ready for The Stocking Slash Crafting Event 2010, Part 2. But wait—something's missing... Ambience.

7:35pm - Determine ribbon arrangement. Not a lot of options, really.

7:38pm - Cut ribbons. Prepare to glue.

7:54pm - Sigh. Ribbons not staying put.

8:02pm - Jeebus. Ribbons finally attached. Crossing fingers that they stay put.

8:09pm - Ribbons all falling off. Determine hot glue is the way to go for this type of project.

8:10pm - Ask self once again why I ever attempt crafty projects.

8:19pm - Begin tedious work of cutting out letters.

8:29pm - Ready to do some ironing and take this project to a whole new level.

8:33pm - Feeling lazy. Decide to let glue fully dry and finish this project tomorrow.

9:25pm TWO WEEKS LATER - Finished stocking, like, forever ago. Forgot to take any more photos. Please enjoy this slightly blurry photo of all three completed stockings.

Oh What Fun

Christmas was lovely, and the loveliness lasted nearly all day. We had a sort-of white Christmas, the gifting—both the giving and the receiving—was quite nice, and all the food was delicious. But (of course there is a but) it all sort of fell apart at the end of the day.

Andrew and I were out nearly all day. We spent the morning/early afternoon at my parents’ house, then drove across town to Andrew’s parents’ house. We didn’t arrive home until about 9:30pm. As we pulled up to our house, we noticed that our Christmas lights hadn’t come on. We put them on a timer, so they’ve been turning on automatically each evening for the last few weeks. What a bummer, I thought, for the lights to not work ON CHRISTMAS. Of all the days not to work. But it was a pretty cheap timer, so we guessed it was bound to happen eventually. Andrew tried to turn on the Christmas lights, but he couldn’t get them to work. Maybe there was a problem with the extension cord? We didn’t think much of it and went inside.

We started sorting our gifts according to what part of the house they should go to. Not too exciting. But brrrr, is it chilly in here? Let me check the thermostat. Uh oh, the thermostat is not on! Our electric thermostat was not telling us anything because it apparently did not have power. Hmmm, we began to think. The outside lights and thermostat did not work, but our kitchen lights did. Was there anything else that wasn’t working? And why is the cat acting so weird? Is it the Ghost of Christmas Presents?

We walked around the entire house flipping switches, and about half the power was out. Very randomly. Like nothing on the second floor worked except our bathroom light and two closet lights. Nearly everything worked on the first floor except the outlet the refrigerator was plugged into.

We checked the fuse box. Nothing to flip, but we flipped all the breakers anyway. Andrew called his dad, because his dad is handy like that. He didn’t know what was wrong but offered to come over and check it out. (Which was super nice, because I know that he actually went to bed at about 8:00 because we were still at his house at the time.)

Twenty minutes later, my in-laws arrived, flashlights and tool thingys in hand. Mark (Andrew’s dad) checked the GFIs and the fuse box and a bunch of stuff but couldn’t figure it out. Fortunately for us, we bought the house less than a year ago, and we have some kind of warranty that happens to cover electrical systems. So we decided to call the warranty people in the morning, but what to do for now? It was cold in there and we didn’t want to have to take cold showers in the morning.

So we packed a little overnight bag and back to Andrew’s parents house we went. It was definitely not the way I wanted to spend the evening of my first married Christmas. But that is the way things go sometimes.

Bright and early on the 26th, Andrew called the warranty people, and they said they would send somebody out that day. A guy came to our house by 10:30am. Unfortunately, he said that our house has two main lines coming in from the electric company, and if we had really looked at which lights were out, we would have seen that it was every other breaker in the box. But of course we hadn’t looked at it that closely. So basically, one of our lines was out and this was actually just a problem that the electric company would fix. For free. Not for $55, which is what the warranty guy got. But he was nice and offered to switch our living room lights with the heat, so at least it would warm up. Andrew called the power company, and by the time we got home from work, everything was working again. Ta da!

And that is the story of Christmas.

Somebody's going on the Naughty List

Not sure exactly what goes on in the Langford house when the people Langfords are at work, but there has been some naughty behavior going on lately. Unfortunately for one small feline, the evidence is mounting.

Exhibit A

Oh no! I lost me lucky arm! How will I spread love and soft cheeses without it? Halp!

Exhibit B

Hmmm... 'Tis the snowman's arm. But how did it get all the way upstairs?

Exhibit C

Enough said.

Another Hot Saturday Night

9:15pm – Arrive home from birthday dinner with my parents. Tummy is full. Lots of food. And dessert. And two glasses of wine. Feeling pretty good.

9:19 – Put on pajamas. Feeling even better. Decide to drink more wine.

9:21 – Open wine. Hate corkscrew.

9:22 – Sip wine. Bitter! Make wine-induced funny face. Decide to drink and quit being such a baby.

9:29 – Seems like a good idea to make our Christmas stockings now.

9:31 – Assemble crafty supplies. Sip more wine. Getting used to the bitter thing.

9:37 – Tape together stocking pattern that I printed out last week.

9:39 – Realize it’s going to be a long night (I’m not so crafty).

9:44 – Pattern is taped and cut out. Sip more wine and ponder what to do next.

9:53 – Cut out first stocking shape. Yay! Looks like stocking. Take picture to mark occasion.

9:55 – Oh no! Hostile cat takeover of felt! Must fight for felt.

9:56 – Cat surrenders. Victory is mine.

9:57 – Oh no! Cat returns. Consider moving Cat, sip wine instead.

10:02 – Damn. Realize hot glue gun is not hot. Plug in. Wonder why I ever attempt crafts.

In mah fort, watchin ur bizness.

10:10 – Glue gun ready. Grit teeth and commence gluing.

10:21 – Gluing complete. What’s with the strange grayish line around the edge? Is that going to go away? Is this some kind of Cat sabotage?

10:34 – Stocking ready for ribbons. Pretty ribbons. Not sure how to attach. Ponder briefly.

10:35 – Shrug and reach for wine. And hot glue gun.

10:46 – Ohmystars, 11 minutes for one twee ribbon?! Sigh…

10:56 – Second ribbon done. Down to 10 minutes. Next time aiming for nine…

11:03 – Third ribbon done AND got distracted by the Discovery Channel AND had sip of wine. Wondering why I don’t do artsy craftsy things more often. Clearly some kind of prodigy or something.

11:17 – Stocking #1 complete. Sort of. Still needs a name on it. Is this Andrew’s or Megan’s? How will Santa know where to put the presents? Decide to be done for the night. Discovery Channel just too intriguing.

Two Things

1. My sister is about 19 weeks pregnant and she had her first ultrasound today. They're having a boy! Courtney posted her ultrasound pictures on her blog, and I swear I am going to have the cutest nephew ever. So tiny and nephew-like! I'm so excited and so happy for Courtney and Zach. They are going to name him Austin Zachary. Good name, I think.

2. It's getting all Christmasy up in here. Andrew and I went to a tree farm on Sunday and picked out the prettiest tree there. We (Andrew) sawed it down and we (Andrew) carried it back to the truck. My first real tree! Very exciting.


We got the tree home and set it up in our brand new tree stand. Our cats could not have been more fascinated. They sniffed and they tasted. They got bits of sap in their fur.



After a quick jaunt to the store for some lights (apparently ours went the way of Jimmy Hoffa after we moved), we trimmed the tree. Lights, ornaments, and a star on top. Now all we need are some presents underneath. Zadie is anxiously awaiting their arrival.

I can has mah prezunts?