mosker

Black Friday tradition

I am not a fan of Black Friday shopping. I'm sure they probably are some good deals to be had, but the idea of crawling out of bed at 2 in the morning to shop, or worse yet, standing in line for several hours out in the cold to be the first in line sounds like one of worst kinds of torture. Instead, my mother-in-law and I have established our own tradition for the day after Thanksgiving: baking gingerbread. It really does make for a long day, but it's a nice opportunity to spend time together while working toward a shared goal.

This year we make enough for 6 gingerbread houses and 40 cookies, and each and every piece was made in molds.

These are molds for the houses. You have to mold everything except the chimney twice for every house.

 

And these are the cookie molds. I made twenty of each.

Brighton

While I was sorting through the images I shot at the Grand Canyon, I realized there were plenty of older files I transferred from camera but still hadn't processed or even imported into Lightroom. This is Mom's dog Brighton, who is seriously one of the sweetest dogs I've met. Mom has been working with a trainer (those are Carl's legs in the picture) to help Brighton get her therapy dog status. I went along for a session in the park in August and it was interesting to watch them work. For the most part Brighton was engaged and eager to please, but once or twice you could tell she wasn't feeling it and did her best to just ignore the instructions. After all, if you don't hear them, you can't be disobeying, right? 

Road Trip

 

My brother reported to Ft. Sill last week, but his plan for getting the truck he purchased from our sister didn't work out, so mom agreed to drive it there from Northern California and asked me to come along for the ride. Less than two days later I was there. (Thank goodness for an understanding and flexible boss. And accumulated vacation.)

One of the best parts of the trip was getting to surprise my niece. They told her there would be a surprise (there had to be an explanation for why her mom was getting the extra bed ready) but she had no idea it would be her auntee. It was great, and we had a wonderful time hanging out and playing Wii together.

Mom and I made the drive from Northern California to Oklahoma, including a side trip to the Grand Canyon, in three days and it was a good trip.

I highly recommend visiting the Grand Canyon. It is immense and awesome and I would love to visit again when there's more time to explore and try to take it all in. 

Click on the image for a larger view:

Finally, it's official

A week ago today my sister gave me one of the best gifts I've ever received: she made me an aunt, and I got to be there for the big event. I've thought of her daughter as my niece for what seems like forever, but now it is official because the adoption was finalized.

I didn't know what to expect. After all, how many adoptions does the average person get to attend? We'd heard that we would be able to take pictures at the hearing because judges like officiating over adoptions (who wouldn't appreciate such a bright spot after some of the terrible things they have to deal with), but when we were called into the courtroom the first thing the bailiff told us was no pictures until the session was over. Fortunately, the judge got to be the hero and not only said we could take all the pictures we wanted, but also invited us to move to the jury box to get a better angle. (That was, by the way, the first time I've been in a jury box.) I took nearly 200 pictures. It's a good thing I was using automatic mode, because otherwise everything would have been out of focus once I started tearing up when Suzanne and her daughter were called for their turn.

The legal business of an adoption is surprisingly straightforward: the judge asks the adoptive parent or parents to confirm the signature on the document is theirs and that the information is correct. She makes sure the adoptive parents still want to adopt, and if the child is old enough, if they want to be adopted. Finally, the parents sign, the child signs (again, assuming he or she is old enough), and the judge finds that everything is in order and she signs. And that's it.

There were three adoptions finalized in this session, and after each the judge invited the child up to the bench to give them a bear and the pen she used to sign the papers. The bear with the blue t-shirt is Bobby. Grandma brought him back from Germany and he came to court with us. The bear on the left is the one who joined the family on adoption day. I have several favorite pictures from that day and one of them is my niece stepping away from the bench with an enormous smile on her face while clutching those bears.

Somehow it's perfect the ceremony was not some big gigantic event, because by the time you get to that point, the child is already a member of your family. And I couldn't be happier.

This is just too cool!

I love it when other people realize that my favorite people really are THAT great! Remember this?

Check out this response:

Congratulations Carrie!

About your twitter...

I just learned that one of my favorite friends started a twitter feed, but I heard it from one of our mutual friends. Since she didn't tell me herself, is it kind of like eavesdropping that I added an RSS feed for her Twitters without mentioning that I know?

Because, on the one hand, if she wanted me to know she would have told me, but maybe she just didn't think I'd be interested? Of course, it is out there for the public to see and I could have found it for myself if I'd Googled her recently.

The Internet is such a funny place sometimes.

Before & After

As odd as it may sound, one of the things I miss the most about living far away from my family is not getting to contribute to group projects. Of course, it would be great if they were close to help me out, but it's really about getting to be a part of whatever project that's going on, hanging out with my family members, and knowing that I was able to help. When I told Suzanne about that she happy to organize a little something when I was there in April, and I volunteered again when I knew I would be there in December.

Unfortunately, I got myself in over my head this time and there was no way I was going to finish in time. Fortunately, my brother and his wife were willing to return with me the next day to put in a hard day's work (and suffered some bruised fingers in the process) to remove the brick planter that Suzanne wanted gone.

Observations

I took possession of the family slides last year and started the tedious process of scanning and sorting the images. After a few hours of experimenting, it seems like the best way to deal with them is to create a new catalog in Lightroom and import them a few at a time. I've created tags for each person I can identify, and then grouped images together when it's obvious they were taken at the same time and place. The only sorting I did before starting to scan was to separate the cardboard mounts from the plastic mounts--otherwise the images are all jumbled.

Obviously I don't have what could be called a representative sample, but of the 337 images I've imported so far, it's interesting how they are breaking down as to the number of images of each family member. My dad shot most of the pictures, so it's not surprising that he appears in fewer than any of the rest of us, but I appear in fewer than either my siblings or my mother. I wonder if that isn't fairly common for middle children. It'll be interesting to see how the ratios change as I process more slides. For the record, I'm not keeping score--Lightroom displays the number of images in each keyword.

And also, we had an artificial Christmas tree that was probably all the rage at the time, but in retrospect? It was...well, I'll let you see for yourself:

Happy Birthday, Ray

I thought about calling you this morning with my birthday greetings, but given the two hour time difference and your penchant for not getting up early, I thought I should delay the call and not force you to use that kind of language so early in the morning.

Happy birthday to my favorite brother!

He's ugly and I love him

We saw this at Pier 1 today and Linda insisted on buying him for me.

Of all the frogs she's every purchased for me (about a half dozen or so), this one is my favorite.

Sally

This is Sally. Sally says hi!

Mom tells me I got Sally when I was about 2 years old. We had just returned from Germany and the household goods hadn't arrived. I didn't have any toys to play with, so they bought this doll to tide me over. I named her Sally and she was my fast friend for several years, even preferring her when the other toys finally arrived. I was fascinated by the way her eyes closed when she was laid on her back and opened again when she sat upright. She's fairly primitive when compared to the walking, talking, eating dolls available today, but I still remember carrying her with me as I went about my childhood errands.

Eventually I tired of her, as children always do, and I didn't see her again until Mom shipped her to me when she cleaned out the garage and shed. I wiped off her face and purchased an off-the-shelf outfit for her (I felt guilty that she didn't have any clothes), and then she sat on a shelf in the extra bedroom because I didn't know what else to do with her.

Until I mentioned her to my friend (and beloved former mother-in-law) Linda who believes that every doll should be treasured. Linda whisked Sally away for a bit of TLC and a visit to the Doll Cradle where she received socks, shoes, slippers, underwear, and her very own Christmas stocking. Then Sally stayed at Linda's for a while and hung out with the dolls who live there year-round as Linda made two outfits for her: the nightgown and robe she's wearing now, and a dress and jumper.

There's no mistaking the care and attention Linda gave Sally as she scrubbed her face and attempted to rehabilitate the worn hair, as well as making the lovely outfits. This is never a gift I would have thought to ask for, but can't think of another more personal and generous.

Visual record

This year I offered to take possession of all the family slides and scan them. This way everyone gets to have a copy and we don't have to worry about them decaying beyond reasonable restoration. Before I get too far into the process, however, I wanted to work out a good workflow so I don't have to go back and redo too many (or any). I also have a handful of negatives that I grabbed during a visit home (yes, I had permission), so I decided to start there. The first batch has been a real battle, because each strip of negatives has been rolled up into a small cardboard tube--for over 35 years--so getting them flattened out to fit into the film holder has been the most challenging part of the job.

I haven't done any cleanup yet, but here are a couple of examples of what I've discovered so far:

Germany. Probably early to mid-sixties, but that's just a rough guess.

Germany, late sixties.

Based on the other images on this strip of film, this was shot near Cape Charles, Virginia in the mid-sixties.

darn, darn, darn

I talked to Suzanne this evening and one of the topics we discussed was an album we both remember from our childhood. One of the songs on the record was "A Named Pierre", which she recently found on YouTube. I was delighted to hear it again, but as I complained about to her: it took days for me to get the tune out of my head.

After we ended the call and I hung up, I realized that I was in trouble: Pierre was once again dancing around my head. Because if everyone else would listen to it too, at least you'll know what I'm humming.

Bill

The first neighbor I met after I bought my house was Bill. Bill lived across the street and had since the neighborhood went up. It was apparent that he was carefully watching all the comings and goings as I ripped out the carpet and moved in, so I figured my best bet was to stroll over and introduce myself. It was the right choice, and for the last four years Bill has been a wonderful neighbor. He watched my house when I wasn't home, even challenging my former father-in-law when he came by to collect the remnants of the above ground swimming pool.

Bill was also very clear about his expectations about how I should maintain my yard. He offered to lend me a mower the first week when he thought I wasn't taking care of the task soon enough, and the next spring he cut up a fallen tree branch for me so I could mow the lawn. He stressed the mowing the lawn part several times, but also insisted I learned how to use the electric hedge trimmer. He knew the history of my home and told me about the addition of the carport, the installation of the used air conditioner, and he even helped a previous homeowner install the old oven hood.

I received a call this weekend when I was in Bloomington: Bill had died. He didn't wake up on Friday morning. He'd had some health problems, of course, but he seemed to have been feeling better recently. I suppose that's all any of us can really ask for: 90 years in relatively good health, mental acuity intact, surrounded by family, and slipping away during the night.

But I'll still miss him.

Memories

My brother had one of these when he was little. I spent hours winding it for him, but I wonder if he remembers it.

Happy Birthday to my favorite brother

Here's to a wonderful birthday and a wonderful year.

What I've learned already this week

If someone gives you a recipe and says she always makes a double-batch, do not assume your mixer bowl is large enough to accommodate a double-batch.

It can be messy. Very, very, very messy.

Weirdness

LGG tagged me for this meme, and it's taken a bit of time to come up with my list. I have as many weird things as everyone else, but I wanted to avoid anything that smacked of, yeah, what they said.

The Guidelines: List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets. Tag 5 friends and list them. Then, those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people. Don't forget to let the people you tag know by posting a comment on their blog!

1. Mathis had such a thing for water. Before he would drink from the water dish, he had to dip his paw in, as though testing that it was water, and not some caustic acid that I'd poured in by mistake, and then lick the water off of his paw. After he dipped and licked a couple of times, or a couple dozen times, he'd drink out of the bowl directly.

2. I received a beautiful, handmade, cable-knit throw for Christmas last year. Eli will not jump onto my lap if I am using the blanket. He'll stand on his back legs and look for a way to sit with me without touching the blanket, and will even balance on the arm of the chair to get a better perspective, but until I move the blanket, he won't sit with me. And it's only that blanket.

3. Ever since I got Tivo, I keep trying to rewind the radio. Something catches my attention when I've only been half-listening, and I almost have my finger on the button before I realize it doesn't work that way.

4. And speaking of television, I have this thing about reruns. If the episode of one of my favorite programs is a rerun during the regular airtime, I'll usually find something else to do. But if a rerun of one of my favorite programs is airing on a different day and time, all of the sudden it's much more compelling to watch.

5. I can't recall ever taking a proper vacation. Not counting, of course, that trip to Yosemite when I was little. All I remember about that trip was some kind of load-balancing issue with the pop-up trailer the family had rented, and a bear taking Suzanne's Gumby doll. I think I was only about four, so you can't really trust my recollection on that.

Pumpkins

These are the pumpkins we did at the Tarts gathering last night. I took forever making up my mind about which pattern I wanted to use and then spent an inordinate amount of time fussing with one of the toothy grins, but I was happy with mine in the end. Carl, thank you again for all the prep work you did so we could get right to work.

And thank you for the fabulous gift bags. I'm having a blast with the bubble-blowing pencil, but I quickly learned not to dig around in the bag for candy without looking. Those worms both look and feel a little too realistic. (If I was going to be at work this week, I could have a blast with said worms.)

A tough week already

The Knitting Cybrarian has been having a tough week...and that's just based on the first two days.

Monday afternoon
Tuesday morning

Even before lunch on Tuesday, things were getting bloody:

I think the last straw were the desperately-needed handouts and an empty toner cartridge.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my favorite sister!

Okay, okay, she is my only sister, but not everyone gets to have a sibling as cool and smart and funny as Suzanne is. And I get the best book recommendations from her Amazon wishlist.

Thus says Suzanne...

I didn't tell Suzanne right away when I started mosker. I wasn't sure what I wanted to write about (sometimes I still don't) and I felt too exposed to share my thoughts with people whom I know. Eventually I sent her a link to the site, and I discovered that she was actually reading it when she started complaining if I went too long between posts. Then I asked if she would be interested in contributing her own posts. She was, and she's been hanging out with me ever since.

Now she has decided to blow this pop stand to set up a place of her own. I am excited to announce that Suzanne has started her own blog, aptly named Thus says Suzanne. She's working to put her own stamp on the place, and if you click over now you can learn the inspiration for the name.

Denial

When I was in middle school the house next door was rented by an active duty Air Force family. They had two daughters, and much to my delight, the elder sister (Kathy) was about my age. Kathy and I became fast friends, and her family even included me in some of their activities. But, of course, he eventually got new orders, and they packed up to move to Okinawa. I was inconsolable after watching them drive away. I learned to never watch people drive away and to make goodbyes as brief as possible. (No need to let them see me cry.)

One of my good friends has accepted a great job located much closer to her family, and today was her last day at work. (Fortunately there's still one more party for her.) As much as the remaining Tarts will miss her, I know we're also happy that she's gotten a job she wanted in the town she loves. And thanks to the Internet, she doesn't have to be as far away.

Congratulations squiggles . Remember to post about your life "out in the country" (but don't ask me to watch you drive away).

Weird habits

Carl tagged me for his meme about weird habits. I'm sure that he's only asking about those quirky habits that make me so endearing, rather than suggesting that I am weird.

1 - After I pull into the garage I always wait for the door to close completely before I get out of the truck. I also wait for the door to close completely before I leave the driveway. The leaving part is because I accidentally left the door open once shortly after I bought the house. The neighbor gave me a lecture about it later.

2- I have a tendency to point out the ridiculous, obvious things that people would rather ignore. I can't help it--it's the literal side of me.

3 - I always greet the cats every time I come home by asking about their days. Like they're going to answer?

4 - I park in the same area of the parking lot every time I go to Target. I never have to wonder where I parked the truck.

5 - I talk to myself when I code. It would be more productive to bounce ideas off other people to devise solutions, but no one in the office knows what I'm talking about. I may not have the solution either, but at least I'm a good listener.

In the spirit of carrying on Carl's theme, I'm asking the Knitting Cybrarian, Squiggles, Rustee, Annie!, and tinkspixidust to participate. Feel free to post your list in the comments here if you don't want or can't post them elsewhere.