diy Wedding Part 1

If one thing is true, it is that I am not a crafter. I do not sew (though I'd love to), I do not knit (also like to), I don't know the difference between craft paint and gorilla glue. The closest I come to being crafty is when I cook... and that's a stretch.

But I wanted to save money on my wedding AND add character to our party. I didn't want to have to buy candy jars and cake stands and centerpieces. So I decided to make them.

I'm happy to say this is the first time I've actually used Pinterest. I pinned a few things over the past few months and finally got around to making them!

I've been saving jars and whatnot for a few months now (against Austin's wishes, certainly). And I was finally ready to get to work a few weeks ago. 

I started by going to the Dollar Tree for candlesticks, Home Depot for terra cotta pots, and Michael's for craft spray paint and glue and paper for the cake stand. 

I got to work - I was VERY impressed with the way THIS SPRAYPAINT worked, particularly on glass. I originally bought acrylic paint because I'd heard it was very difficult to paint glass. But then it wasn't the right color (no picture EDIT: the very first picture has the first type of paint i used -- it was more of a forest green), and you could see the brush strokes, so instead I bought lime green spraypaint, which I like much better. 

The finish on it is GREAT! 

Once the paint was dry I glued on the jars I wanted to use. They are smaller than the ones in the Pinterest photo, but I figure the candy station won't be the draw & I can always refill the jars as the night goes on if necessary, plus they were the jars I had. 

They look great, yeah!?

The cake stand was MUCH simpler because I used the spray paint the first time around and terra cotta is pretty much the easiest thing to spray paint.

I did try and add the paper to the bottom like in the tutorial, but I couldn't get it on there smooth, and I couldn't cut a nice round circle. So instead, I'm going to get white paper doilies and cut them around to fit the base and we can put the dough-nuts on that. I'm feeling quite proud of myself.

Part 2 will be centerpieces. I think that's all there is left to do!!! :D

Happy Thoughts

Sometimes life is poopy. Like the last week. No reason to feel differently this week than last, and yet... I do. So I'm going to find 10 5 things to make me smile. :D (I wanted to post it and it already took me a few weeks to compile my list sooooo....)

#5

Dory. I was going to do just the "I will call him Squishy, and he will be mine..." bit, and then I was going to do the "Just keep swimming..." but then I forgot about the whale speak and so I watched this video and all was right with the world.

#4

 Shit like this makes me cry EVERY SINGLE TIME. I basically broke down at work today reading the dumb Yahoo! article, and then again just now posting it here & thinking about what a great kid her parents raised & that they were totally freaking awesome in response --> stupid awesomeness that makes me cry  [I know I'm only supposed to add happy things, but I have to juxtapose ^^ with >>this<<, which I also read today, because it made me sad & angry]

#3 

cats in suits. obviously. 

obviously. if not sliiiightly frightening. moving on.

#2

Chappelle Show - on netflix.

#1

And this. Whee! 57 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Probably going to do Hawaii for our honeymoon (in September). We were thinking Mexico, but for the time of year, Hawaii will probably be nicer. I know, first-world problem.

Workin' Girl

 As I hinted in my last post, I do have good news! I've spent the last two weeks WORKING at the hospital here. I was the last of the new hires to squeeze into the paperwork session on the 18th and was able to start working on the 21st. Even after all the paperwork was done and I had worked my first 8..16 hours I was afraid to say I finally got a job in fear that it would be like a dream and suddenly disappear. But by the end of the first week I was feeling a little better as I ended up with my own desk (which is essentially the front desk of the office) and was given a phone with the main office extension so.. those are signs that they don't intend to change their mind about me right?

My desk. (It's L shaped, with my screens in the curve of the L)

I'd say the phone is the most challenging part of my current job duties. I am able to handle about 50% of the calls with no problems, but the other 50% send me running for help. I've got a phone list of extensions and such, and while I know the common ones and such there are still situations were it's faster for me to go ask someone was a persons extension is than to look it up. On the plus side of the phones, I do get to transfer most of the calls to another department, which was the first extension number I memorized. And really... I get less than 30 calls a day, so I can't complain too much.

My other main job duty is to take care of the fax queue for surgery pre-admissions. Which really is just checking to see if the patient has an account already or not, and if so properly indexing the faxed over documents into their account. Sorting out the titles and types of documents was a little challenging the first week, but it was a lot easier the second week. That doesn't take a whole lot of time either plus, I know I'm not the only one checking the fax throughout the day. Which is nice for when something comes over and I can't for the life of me read the physician's handwriting of the patient's name. I just leave it in there for someone to interpret.

I've also been learning the office mail. Most of it goes to one of two places and is fairly easy. But usually at least once a day I have to open it up to find out what it is, or look up where an outside physician works so I know what mailbox to put it in.

Besides all that, which really only takes up minutes at a time of my day, I spend my day doing quality assurance. Checking hard copy documents,  one at a time to make sure they are in the electronic records before destroying the hard copy. It's mind numbingly dull for the most part, but besides the necessary need of these QA checks, the whole point is for me to learn my way though the electronic chart and know what kind of documents are in it and where to find information when I am doing other jobs in the future.

My end-of-the-week paperclip collection.

I have what I'm sure is an unobtainable goal for this...getting caught up as I'm currently working on discharges from November, but I really hope I get to move on to something more interesting soon. I also HATE the fact that in the fax queue are "pre-admits" from December. I want those documents out of there! (that's my OCD speaking.) But overall, it's all still very exciting, to actually be working and in the field I went to school for. I wasn't sure it was going to happen for a while there.

I've got some great perks of being a hospital employee. We have the cafeteria with a pasta and pizza area, usually a burrito and grill area, and the daily specials, a salad bar and deli, with side options such as fruit, yogurt, desserts, frozen yogurt, etc. Oh, and two soup options. PLUS we have a cafe downstairs that also serves soups and sandwiches, coffees, smoothies, breakfast sandwiches, muffins, doughnuts, etc. And I get an employee discount that is close to half off. I actually ate three meals a day all week for the first time in who knows how long.

My new favorite thing in life is oatmeal. Most days the cafeteria has "artisan oatmeal" full of bran, quiona, dried bananas  and other good for you things. I paid a dollar something for it, took me 45 minutes to eat it all, and I wasn't hungry at lunch time. So I had a small salad for lunch, and paid like two bucks. I think on Friday's, the main breakfast option is an oatmeal bar, with various toppings. (They also have eggs and sausage, bacon, etc.) The cafe has the oatmeal bar every day, but also a parfait bar every morning. (hellooo summer breakfast!) I've never had a job that fed me so well! So yeah... hospital food. Can't complain!

We get a bunch of other discounts around town too, some local coffee places, car dealerships, even an apartment complex around here. Haven't had a chance to look into all those options. Also, one day a week in the summer the Farmers Market parks itself on the hospital lawn so it should be easier for me start exploring that each week.

I work with one of my classmates, another who was recently hired has been training in our office but doesn't regularly work there. A few others we see periodically as their work in other nearby hospitals brings them into ours for training and meetings. It's kinda fun to see all of us out of the classroom and in the field! I know almost everyone in the office now, and where they sit (the mail sorting helps with that..) just need to figure out their extensions now. And the people who work from home... I've had a few calls for them and they don't have an extension nor am I allowed to give out their number so that's interesting.

The only downside (so far) is that my hours are 7:30-4, which is actually great, since there were considering me for a graveyard shift (and while I would have taken it, I'm glad to not have that one!) But that means I get up at 6 am in order to get ready and drive into town (although the early morning drive is pretty pleasant.. not like it's rush hour in Sacramento or anything! :P) and when I get home around 4:45 Ed has been at work for about an hour already. He doesn't get home until about 7 pm or so. And then I try to be in bed around 9 so I can get up the next morning. Which means I see Ed for about 2 hours a day during the week. Weekends are precious time together now.

And we spent last weekend in Vancouver at a swim meet.. which was time together, but it was time together in a very crowed swimming pool while Ed was working for 8-9 hours. It was chaotic, but still a fun weekend out of the house doing something different. I got to get to know a few of the other kids on the swim team, and realized one of the younger ones Ed teaches is one I know from the preschool I worked in 4 years ago.

My swim meet view.

So anyway, that's what I've been up to. Ed has been trying to get me to go to lap swim with him the evenings, and I've been thinking about it, I want to, but haven't actually gone yet. (I also have access to a gym at the hospital, which I can use anytime, any day.) So now that I'm finally eating better, time to add in the daily activity. (ESPECIALLY now that I sit at desk all day. Which is different than sitting in bed or on the couch all day...) We did get to run around yesterday and spent a bit of time together. Got haircuts (I just cut my bangs), had lunch, did a little bit of shopping and then took a nap. Yay sleep!

Blarg.

No promises for how long this will be. I'm sorry I'm such a debbie-downer. I don't know what's come over me.

I've been kind of unhappy lately. Stressed about finding a permanent job, stressed about money, stressed about wedding and stressed about more superficial things. I've been having really good weekends - but they're the kind of weekends that make me feel guilty! Too much money spent, too much junk food, etc.

I need to find something that's fun to do - that is healthy and cheap. It's been pretty cold here and Austin and I have stopped walking. We used to take nightly walks around midtown, but with the weather falling below freezing it's harder to get out.

Blarg. This is wayy too depressing and I should just cut it out. I'll just leave this here and call it a day.



I'll try to be better next time.

And I'll try to make sure that there really is a next time.

Belated Resoultions

Happy late New Year! I haven't had anything interesting to say lately.. but life has been picking up a little bit and I may actually have something to share.

Apple Banana Cinnamon Smoothie

The most common New Year's resolution is to lose weight/work out. I'll go ahead and say while I intend to get in shape, I probably won't. But am always looking to improve my health, and I think one of my goals for the year is going to be changing my eating habits. I don't have a problem with buying junk food, cookies, ice cream, chips, etc. is rarely on my shopping list and they don't end up buying impulse buys either. However, I don't necessarily buy healthy food either. I'd like to jump on the smoothie bandwagon this year, and boost my fruit and veggie intake and nutrition in that way. I also have a goal of eating breakfast, and lunch. I have trouble convincing myself to COOK lunch, but there is only so much you can not cook. I need to start my days right, with food and actually eat lunch some days. And snacks too, need to come up with snacks. Dinner has been my main meal of the day for years and I'd like to break that habit. All the working out I could do wouldn't do much if I'm not eating right. (In fact, I'm actually rather low on the scale these days and rather concerned about exercising with my lack of nutrition at the moment.)

I did promise yarn in my last post (a month ago...) so here is the yarn I bought to make Christmas presents with. I made four headband/ear warmers and one pain-in-the-butt hat. I was so excited when Christmas was over so I could stop crocheting! I did, just this week, make a hat for myself with the remaining white yarn.. but it's either too long, or the yarn was thicker than in the pattern because it's not quite right. But I love the stitch I used and am thinking about making a baby blanket with it. I've also come across a "crown" pattern I need to get yarn for and make for the new Royal in our family. I believe I promised flowers as well.. but never got around to creating those. I did try.. and wasn't happy with them so I quit. :)

For those who don't know, it's full on wedding season in my brain with two wedding events planned, 6 days in apart, in the very beginning of spring. There has been lots of chatter about dresses, and decorations, flowers, hair and photography. It's getting very close and very exciting.
I feel like I am finally getting somewhere in my job search, which I won't elaborate on at the moment in fear of jinxing it but, thank goodness for that, with these two upcoming weddings! These weddings also equal vacation time so... here's hoping for lots of hours and a good tax refund!

Ed's work is still going very well. He's been working on getting his lifeguard certification, and his coaching certification. He's been coming home with fun goodies a lot lately. Most recently with shirts embroidered with "Coach Ed" and a few days later, his badge and pricey stopwatch. He's also came home with the "lifeguard" shorts and shirt.

 I am very proud of him.

For now, that's all. I hope to have news later this week. And maybe more yarn.

Unremarkable December.

Summer at the Dry Canyon, in December.

It's been two weeks since my last post and I have not done much of anything with that time. I did manage to get my hair trimmed and dyed, and schedule some photo shoots for current pictures, as you may have noticed on Facebook. In fact, waiting to see what pictures she'll have ready next are pretty much the only thing I look forward to lately.

I've cooked a bit, but nothing I've been thrilled with. I'm making a new Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe in the slow-cooker soon and I'm not even sure I'm looking forward to that. I made Cheddar Broccoli Soup last week that I wasn't impressed with, and Chicken Bacon Panini's to go with it. I wasn't thrilled with those either, which was depressing. I do have some turkey meat, I want to make a Turkey & Swiss panini inspired by the one and only Pioneer Woman.

Rigged with bells, to hear troublesome cats.

We did go out in the woods and steal a Christmas tree. It was the puppy Bo's first trip away from the house and into the woods.

This past weekend Ed's brother, Ron, came to visit with his new girlfriend and we had "Christmas" early. They didn't come for Thanksgiving this year, and Ed's parents will be gone for Christmas so this was our big weekend together. We took family pictures with the same photographer, as I came across a fantastic Holiday Package on CraigsList. (it included the pictures of Ed & I, which we took on Wednesday.) Afterward we had a turkey dinner (again. 16 days after Thanksgiving...) and watched Love Actually. Sunday before they left we decorated the tree and put up lights (which the puppy has chewed though two strands of outdoor lights already).

Terrible quality, hard to see. Sorry.

I was inspired to crochet again last night, sat down with an audio book of Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (one of Ed's favorite books, and Ron's, and Kirk's. He's been waiting for me to read it forever.) and made myself a headband style ear warmer  In one sitting. (Did stay up until 3 am..) Without pulling it apart even once. So pleased with myself. I even made a bow on it. The perfectionist I am, I'm not 100% pleased with it.. but I am pretty close to 95% please with it. (A Christmas miracle!) I do find it too wide, so it doesn't sit around my head well. And I would like to change the dimensions of the bow, but besides that.. I've decided to make a handful of them for Christmas gifts this year. They only take a few hours, and the more I do it the quicker I get. (I've already made another basic wrap..I need more yarn for trim and decorations.) So I hope to sit down with all 51 discs of Les Misérables, crochet away, and maybe get though most of the book before the movie comes out. If I'm lucky. I want to practice making some flowers instead of bows for some, and I've been working on a new stitch I'd like to use on one of them, except now my hands are cramped up and sore, add Benadryl in the mix and I've decided to stop for the night. Sorry the picture is terrible. Taking a picture of something dark, on dark hair, in poor lighting doesn't turn out well.

The only other bit of interest is that I've recently began actually studying for my RHIT exam. Not terribly seriously at the moment, but I do now have access to mock quizzes and tests. I've been told by a classmate who just passed his exam over the weekend, that it wasn't worse than anything we had in class. That the program I am using is pretty much all he used to study, and working in the field as a coder he felt gave him no advantage when it came to the coding section of the exam. That is the area I am most concerned about, as it wasn't one of my strongest areas, or something I am particularly interested in pursuing. So.. while the questions are obviously not exact, they are covering the same material. There are some things I've found already that I need to go back and study in more detail, so that when the question is reworded, I still know they are talking about. (I have found it really easy to memorized the questions in the resource already, which is a bit of a problem.)

I shall have yarn and yarn flowers to share with you soon.. Pinkie Pie promise.

Squash & Cardamom Cinnamon Rolls

Trial got dismissed. It's good for the client, but I was getting excited. Oh well, I'm sure another one will come up again, tis the nature of the business, afterall.

It was nice to get to regroup at home this weekend. This was my first week working nearly full time and it wiped me out, I will definitely need my weekends in the future. Today Austin and I went out to Roseville (the 'burbs) and went to the behemoth mall they have out there just to look around. We didn't buy anything, but it was nice to get out of the city for a bit. After we got our fill of the holiday-mall craziness we meandered home and I continued to make these cinnamon rolls I'd started this morning.

Sure, it's not the prettiest roll on the block...

A few years ago on Christmas I made these cinnamon rolls, and we loved them. They're pretty cardamom-y, and after round two my inclination is to 1/2 the amount she used in the dough, and then omit it from the filling (which I will tell you about down yonder).  Still, I love the unique, almost anise flavor cardamom has.

For the filling, I wanted to use up a mostly whole butternut squash I had sitting on the fridge. I thought fall flavored cinnamon rolls would be awesome on Christmas morning, and since the recipe makes two batches we'll have some to bring over to our friends' house tomorrow morning.

le process

I diced, then roasted, a nearly whole butternut squash in the oven after coating it with brown sugar (maybe 2 tbs), cinnamon (1 tbsp), nutmeg (1 tsp), cardamom (1 tsp) and a small pinch of cloves.

When it was soft (20-30 minutes), I pureed the squash with a little soymilk (2 tbsp), maple syrup (1 tsp), and honey (1 tsp). I added extra cinnamon and one or two drops of almond extract.

The mixture made enough to spread on both batches of dough. Before we head over in the morning I'm going to make a simple glaze to pour over the top after I bake them. The one above is a lone-roll I baked just to make sure they were good (they are).

The butternut squash is a pretty subtle flavor and I think the cardamom flavored dough from the recipe kind of overwhelms it, so while I would highly recommend the recipe, I will certainly half the cardamom the next time I bake these. Also, it is not a typical super-sweet cinnamon roll recipe. It would be good with a nice glaze, since the rolls themselves are moderately sweetened.

Alright, now that I've made breakfast, I better run and whip up dinner!

UPDATE: I set the cinnamon rolls in a well buttered baking dish in the refrigerator overnight. Then I baked them at 400° for 15-20 Min. They were great. The cardamom had settled down a bit anf he filling tasted like pumpkin pie. YUM. <3 <3 <3

Whoopie Pies, Tetrazzini & a failed Salad.

Cookies; Mushrooms; BACON!

I've got pictures of food.. but nothing I'm really thrilled with. Although, worth trying again for sure. And the cookies turned out perfect, as expected. I first made these last New Years Eve, and once we decided I was making some type of dessert for Thanksgiving these Pumpkin Whoopie Pies were Ed's first request. I followed the recipe as it was and my only "issue" was that I had too much filling than I did cookies. Not a real big problem but I hated to toss the extra. And this is extra AFTER pilling on more onto each cookie. If you end up with excess filling like that, I suggest letting them sit over night. I gave one to Ed to test and while warm, the filling went everywhere when being bit into. But the next morning it had set up and was easier to eat.

My Thanksgiving salad, I didn't even bother taking a picture of because it wasn't as pretty as it could have been. I took the easy route and bought a box of organic spring greens, and I found out when throwing it all together the greens were starting to expire already. And my pomegranate that I seeded for it was going bad as well, so it was lacking that pretty bright red also. And it's possible I forgot the cheese for it all together. I'll give it a second try another day though. Made a vinaigrette for it which I felt was a little strong on the red wine, but Ed thought it was perfect.

The mushrooms and bacon were for a Turkey Tetrazzini. Which was good, but I wasn't happy with the quality of the left over turkey I used. I was using the turkey picked from the bones after making turkey broth,  instead of actual cut turkey from dinner. It did taste good, and smelled great cooking, everyone enjoyed it (and we had enough to freeze a second dish of for baking later), I think I'm just picky. I would like to make it again with better turkey. 

Ends of the scarf.

I finally finished the scarf I started making for Ed two months ago... I'm still not thrilled with the final results, but it is the happiest I've been with any of the attempts. You can see the picture one end is wider than the other, I still can't figure out how I manage that. Besides that.. I'm happy with it. Not sure what I want to do next. Clearly I still need practice at keeping my stitches even. I've been debating a "quilt" blanket, were I pretty much just stitch a bunch of squares (for the practice) and then stitch them all together. I wonder how much of a difference it'd make it I actually attempted to follow a pattern, but so far I'm just winging it. I would like to find someone who can actually sit and working with me on it, but most the people I know who can are in another state, or the wrong side of the mountains. I've got a bunch of black yarn, so maybe I'll just start with that.

Ed has had a break from swim lessons this week, having just the swim team and beginning life guard lessons. He's had a packet and CD-rom of some sort he got about two weeks ago, and now the lessons. He'll have the test in January and be able to actually life guard then.

Besides that, all I have is cat pictures.

Sasha

Sparta

Flop, not and wreaths

I feel like I'm stuck in a web. I can't really move, don't have a lot of motivation cuz I'm tired from trying to move, and it blows

Pass list, baby! Totally used this as my phone background
for a few days until I got the letter in the mail that
basically said "we're not kidding." 

A week ago today, this happened:


It was rather surprising. Austin can tell you I was a big bag of nerves all day. I even went to work on Thursday (when I don't usually) because I needed something to take my mind off of the news.

Thankfully, it was also good news for my three best law school friends, who I studied with for most of my time at McG. It would have been so awkward if one of us had not passed, I mean, specifically the four of us, because we constantly studied together.

But for the past four months I've been able to avoid being serious about applying for jobs because a lot of them strictly require a bar passage first before they actually interview you. So, my not applying for jobs was excusable since I want to work public sector and not at a firm, where I might have more wiggle room.

Now that I have passed, I actually have to get a job. I sent in 2 applications this week to public defender offices in Northern California, not far from where we're living now. I want so very badly to work for one of those offices. It'd be perfect. But, what will be will be. Deeeeeep sigh.

All that is just to say that I am feeling stuck again.  After we got the above good news, we celebrated. Since our engagement a bottle of champagne was in our fridge - it was promptly uncorked.

Then my cousin, Ryland, his girlfriend, Devon, our friend, Danny and Austin and I went out on the town. Eventually we met up with some other law school peeps who passed to celebrate. But first.

Yeah, it's dark ... it was night time.

Fishbowl happened. It was that kind of night.

On the homefront, I've been cooking but not well or memorably. When it is memorable, it's for all the wrong reasons. That dinner I was planning on putting up here was really unpleasant. Not kidding. I made tamales again, I've made them a few times now, and they're good, but I don't know... not something worth sharing I guess (particularly these ones because I just used old frozen veggie burgers I made a month or so ago as the filling, and that just does not sound appetizing.)

yes, it is upside-down, but I wasn't the one eating it :P

But I was redeemed this morning when I woke Austin up with a bunch of these --

The picture leaves a little to be desired. They are crêpes filled with cream cheese and cinnamon apples. The filling really was the star; Austin had four filled crêpes with extra filling on top.

Basically, I diced up a fuji apple in chunks, added a tablespoon of butter and 1/4 cup water to a saucepan with the apples with a tablespoon of brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of cardamom. Cooked it for 4-5 minutes until the apples had softened.

THEN, I took some of the juice from the apples, 1 teaspoon of maple syrup and beat in about 1/2 a brick of cream cheese. After cooking my crêpes with my handy dandy crêpe maker I slathered on some cream cheese, added in the apples and sprinkled on some powdered sugar and voila!

Out of my rut!



Also. As you've seen on instagram, I made wreaths. The picture I put up there was the wreath I gave to my Grammie, who we spent Thanksgiving with. I also made one for our door.

I was fairly proud of my work - even though they aren't professional quality or look particularly fancy, I am just completely not crafty, and so the fact that I could make something resembling a wreath, well that was just magical

ooooooooooh ahhhhhhhh

I liked the berries that were in my grammie's wreath, but I had a bunch of flowers left so I arranged them in a pretty vase (wrapped with red gardland).


I think we're going to spend the rest of the day decorating - putting up christmas tree and decorations.

Overall, it's been a pretty darn good week, though, I'm excited to get back to work next week.

Mostly Swimming.

Whelp, our big excitement lately was a evening out to watch A Midsummer Night's Dream as put on by the high school, it was adapted to be a musical and set in the 20's and quite fantastic. And we went on an unauthorized tour of the remodel of the high school . That was entertaining.

Warm ups and last minute instruction.

Events, Heats and Swimmers list

The water slide.

A day later, Ed had his first swim meet as the assistant swim coach. The Madras Aquatic Center hosted it,  and there were a total of four teams competing. It was the first swim meet I'd ever gone to, and Ed's first where he wasn't the one swimming. I don't know if I'd call it fun, but I did enjoy it and look forward to future meets. I'm sure it'd be different if I had a kid who was swimming, or more involved with the team in someway, however, I pretty much just sat there munching on the snacks provided to the Coaches. I was happy to cheer on the CAC team, but since I don't know any of the kids it was rather uneventful for me. Perhaps next time I'll volunteer as a timer (they needed 3 per lane!), or help out with recording the swimmers times or something. Be a little more involved myself.
I've never spent any time in Madras, (for those who don't know, it's about an hour away from where we live) besides driving though on our way over the mountains. I was fairly impressed with the Aquatic Center though. It has two indoor pools, the full sized pool that was in use for the laps, and a kiddie pool. They also have an impressive water slide into the kiddie pool, it's at least two stories high and wraps around a few times. I want to go swimming in Madras just to go down the slide. (Little known fact: swim meets.. include a lot of splashing...very wet tables.)

We then decided to drive from Madras to Bend to attend a surprise party for my brother. He was expecting a gathering of friends for the Duck game, but he wasn't expecting all the decorations and cupcakes and group of people yelling "Happy Birthday" at him when he opened the door. That was also a fun night out of the house. Lots of good food, disappointing Ducks game (the first they've lost this season I believe) and the to counter the pain of the the Ducks loss, they decided to watch one of the (UFC?) fights that was on. I couldn't tell you much about it as I spent the whole time entertaining a 2 year old who was enjoying beating me up. Got kicked in the face, choked out and bit.. but the little guy was exhausted by the time we left so it was time well spent.

Scenes from Dan's Party.

And that's all the news from me. I'm still not having any luck getting employed, but Ed is having fun and being successful at the pool. After the swim meet, the Coach he works with went to look up Ed's swimming times on the Oregon Swim site, and his best time that was listed (but not his over all best time) was 58.35 for the 100 Fly which was his stroke when he swam. The Coach was quite impressed with it (2012 Olympic qualifying times are 55, 57 seconds.) and actually had Ed teach a Fly lesson all day yesterday. He is so cute when he tells me about the kids he's teaching and his lessons "click" and suddenly kids who couldn't do a legal stroke, have pretty decent stokes that they won't get disqualified for.

Times from just one meet.

No big plans for Thanksgiving for us. Family is all over the place this year so I think it will be just Ed & I and his parents. We have Kirk in charge of the turkey and stuffing I believe. KD will be making a side dish and a dessert, and I'll be making side dish and a dessert. Ed wants the Pumpkin Whoopie Pie cookies I made last New Years. And I'm thinking about this Escarole Salad with Toasted Walnuts and Red Wine Vinaigrette, but 1.) I don't know if I like escarole as I've never even heard of it, let alone had it, and 2.) I should check with the others eating it before I decide to make it. KD asked if I knew how to make Green Bean Casserole so I think she may want that. I've still got a day to decide anyway.