Merry Christmas!

It has been a wonderful Christmas celebration so far! Because of when Christmas fell this year and the fact I have to work on Monday, we decided to postpone Christmas with my parents until next weekend. And since our celebration with the Mitchells isn't until Sunday, Chris and I got to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning/early afternoon together.

This year we opened up one gift last night, one gift and stockings this morning and we'll give presents to one another at both set of parents' houses. I made Chris a pair of warm wool socks (I was really nervous about the fit, and while they are a little tight in certain places, now I know for future socks how I need to make them). Chris gave me an ornament with our adorable faces on it to commemorate our first married Christmas together :) Banjo got treats, which he carried around the house all evening long!



We watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation last night in true Christmas style and enjoyed the crackling fire. We also video-chatted with family. Good evening.

This morning we warmed up the pecan roll we got yesterday (yummy!) and opened up another gift and the stockings. A chipmunk fell into Banjo's stocking and couldn't get out until Banjo gently pulled it out this morning and proceeded to play with it, then kill it.

Chris got me the movie Watchman, which I'm really excited to watch again, but it's not quite Christmas material. I gave Chris an ornament I made to commemorate our first married Christmas together. I used leftover yarn from the shawl I made for the wedding (which few people saw because it was too warm to wear it), leftover beads from the bracelets I made and paper from our invitations. A fun keepsake. We're both really excited about our gifts to each other and can't wait to give each other the remaining ones!


I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

Snowified

Over the past month, I haven't had much to post about. I've been knitting constantly, working on Christmas gifts. Next year, I think I should work throughout the year! Besides that, there hasn't been much to blog about. Banjo doesn't spend much time outside since his paws get cold very quickly and he refuses to wear the booties.

Now I have something to write about: the snow. Our snow storm made the top headline on Google news yesterday. The worst since the Halloween blizzard some years ago (which I remember trick-or-treating in, snowmobile suit and all). This kind of snow storm makes me extremely grateful for (1) a garage, (2) a husband that shovels and (3) neighbors with snow blowers that graciously work their magic on the public sidewalks.

While I worked on Christmas gifts, Chris was outside shoveling, and shoveling, and shoveling some more. He worked on our pathways, he helped neighbors dig out their cars when they got stuck, he raked off our roof. He is amazing.

The wind was whipping around, covering the windows with the fine white powder. The snow was whirling everywhere all day long as evident by Chris's face:


This is the view out the front of our house this morning. It's difficult to tell where the snow ends and the sidewalks and streets begin.



This is from the front porch - part of the large pile of snow Chris raked from the roof and shoveled aside. Last night, the mound was directly on the sidewalk around the house and was about as tall as Chris.Out the back of the house, you will notice the fence got a lot shorter. Chris stomped down some pathways for Banjo to do his business. This morning, Banjo was outside all of two minutes because of the snow and the below zero wind chills.

There are lots of people outside this morning digging themselves out. I saw a truck towing several cars that got stuck on the street last night. I'm glad we have such helpful neighbors!

Snow!!!

We finally got snow yesterday! It was wet and heavy, so heavy that a bunch of branches from the neighbors' pine tree broke off and fell next to the house.

It was a rude awakening for Banjo. He still likes to go outside, but he can't stand the feeling of cold and snow on his paws. We tried doggie booties on him last year without success. He didn't want to ruin his reputation in the neighborhood because of some silly looking booties. I will likely try that again this year because I think if he really tried it, he would like it. It would allow him to hunt moles in the backyard for a longer period of time (he caught another one yesterday and hid it under the deck).

While it was sleeting outside, I cleaned and organized inside. I let my room get extremely messy, to the point where it was frustrating just walking in. I pulled everything down, dusted it off and rearranged. I love doing that kind of thing because I like changing things up every once in a while. It makes things feel new even when it's all the same stuff. I finally got around to hanging more of my pictures too. They had been cluttering the bookshelf and now they are hanging in nice clumps on the wall.

Another project this weekend has been cleaning out knitting patterns. I have the tendency of saving any knitting pattern that I remotely think is interesting, which often means there's not a chance in hell I'll actually knit that pattern any time soon if ever. I decided to clean house, and it felt amazing. At the same time, I went through my stash and pulled out some long lost yarn for Christmas knitting projects.

This impetus for this cleaning was that I did something I told myself I wasn't going to do: buy more yarn before I worked through what I already had. That's one of the main reasons I hadn't started knitting my own Christmas stocking - it meant I'd have to buy more yarn. I finally broke down and got it though because if I didn't now, I never would. I'm excited to get started on it. There's little chance I'll get it done before Christmas, but at least I can get a running start at it.

I've also started realistically thinking about projects I want to get done next year. I have big plans, and hopefully those plans remain realistic! I think I'll be able to get a lot more done since we won't be planning a wedding! And for those of you who are wondering, we are still working on the thank-yous. We're taking our time because we're enjoying all the awesome gifts you got us!

Ghoulish Halloween Recap

We had about 80 trick-or-treaters this year (about 10 more than last). Chris wasn't working so he dressed up with me and we tag-teamed handing out the candy. We barricaded Banjo in the dining room to prevent him from eating the little monsters. He let out a bone-chilling howl each time we opened the door (Banjo made me write that - in actuality, all the kids asked "What's that?" He was mortified and will work on making his howl more terrifying for next year.) In addition to decorating the porch, we also put on costumes. Chris was a pumpkin and I was a bumble bee.

To kick off the Halloween weekend, we went to a costume party at G & P's. I was dressed as an Angry Bird (this was a blue bird costume for those who haven't enjoyed the game Angry Birds) and Chris wore the same pumpkin. The blue bird costume was actually one my mom made way back when and she wore it way back when. My friends determined my mom must have been quite silly and figured that's where I must have gotten it.

(Thanks for the pics Sarah)

Celebrations!

Congratulations to Autumn and James! May you continue to grow together and enjoy sharing your lives with one another!

We got to go to New Jersey for our friends' wedding a couple of weekends ago and it was wonderful. The ceremony was beautiful, the reception was a blast, and I had an amazing time. I more thoroughly appreciate all of the effort that goes into a wedding, especially when I see friends going through a lot of the same struggles I went through. It is a great feeling to see it all come together.

In addition to celebrating, we spent time in Pennsylvania visiting family and family friends. I immensely enjoyed hearing Mom Mom's stories and I loved relaxing (and often eating) with Cheryl and Jabbour (thank you again!). Although I felt like all I did was eat over the course of the week, that made it feel more like home. I was very excited that I got to truly meet family friends when we visited. The first time we met, I had a horrible migraine, which meant I got to say 'hi' and 'goodnight.' We really are connected to some great people. And I was extremely excited to enter the wonderful Josh Early candy store, scratch that, candy paradise. Yum yum!

Coming to term with high expectations

I am part of Toastmasters, the group that helps people practice public speaking. I also became the secretary (with strong encouragement). Given an officer's position in the club and given how involved everyone seemed to be when I first joined, I had extremely high expectations. I assumed most everyone was always invested in the club, always striving to be better and help all members achieve their goals.

Today I discovered people have competing priorities, and a volunteer/club usually comes out being a lower priority. The officers of the club met today to discuss various club business (upcoming events, meeting certain goals, etc.). One of the topics of conversation was the increasingly lax participation by various members. People have been canceling at the last minute when scheduled to give a speech or failing to show up at all. It has been becoming frustrating to see. When myself and another member brought this up, the long-standing officers commented the participation rate ebbs and flows - in other words, that's the way it is.

I am still trying to come to terms with that. It's not so much about the club itself because I understand this is voluntary; it's about the fact that everyone around the table is settling. That's the way it is, so why attempt to change it. That's the way it's always been, so why try to make it better.

The reason I'm becoming frustrated is because that's what I see all the time at work. People have stopped making suggestions for improvements, they have become silent workers because they have been shot down so many times. What's the point in getting shot down again? Why try when they know the answer going into it? I'm most frustrated because I see myself heading down that path, and it scares me. I don't want to settle. I want to like what I do, and I don't know if I do anymore. I realize I've only been working there for over three years and I keep hearing that I should be happy I have a job, and I am happy I'm receiving a paycheck. I'm not happy that I'm letting myself be dragged down because I'm no longer passionate about what I'm doing. I continuously see the majority of people in my work environment thinking the work I'm doing really isn't that important. If they don't see value in it, why should I continue to do it?

I really miss being challenged. I miss being excited about the project I'm working on. I rarely have projects anymore. I work on budgets. I work on software. I lack an overall direction.

So what am I doing about it? I'm going to talk to my boss about it. She might not be able to help, but at least she'll listen and maybe be able to throw an exciting project my way. In the meantime, I'm going to try to stay sane and not lose my mind to boredom.

The Gift of Flight

For our wedding, Chris's parents gave Chris and I the gift of flight...for one hour. It's not like a video game power-up - it was a gift certificate for a one-hour helicopter ride with Minnesota Helicopters. I just about died with happiness when we opened it.

For those who are unaware, I toyed around with the idea of becoming a helicopter pilot. I have never taken any lessons because of the cost, but I thought about joining the military to pay for flight school.

Chris and I cashed in the certificate last Saturday on a gloriously clear afternoon. We chose to start shortly before dusk (we wanted to blind the pilot for at least part of the trip). I was lucky enough to get the front seat :) We circled downtown Minneapolis, flew over our house, around downtown St. Paul, and finally followed the St. Croix. It was unbelievably incredible, especially seeing how large the mansions on Summit look even from 800 feet up and how flooded the river still it.

Chris brought up his camera for some fun shots, although I will only be posting one today: