Out on the town.

Weekends are always...odd here.  I am not used to having two or three entire days of nothing important going on.  During football season we at least ended up out in Strawn on Friday nights, and at least once a month we make a Saturday trip to Abilene to do the big grocery shopping.  But this weekend there were no football games, and it's not quite time for the shopping trip, so we were once again having the weekend dilemma.

"What should we do with ourselves today?"
"Whatever you want to do, my dear.  Today is your day."
"You only say that because you have no ideas. What do you want to do?
"I asked first ."

And so on.
It usually ends up with Jesse playing video games and me reading until I fall asleep and efficiently wasting the day away.  But this time, Jesse asked if I had been to any of the shops here in Breckenridge, and as I hadn't, we bundles ourselves up and headed out on the town.
Well, after spending half an hour de-icing the Tahoe, that is.  The hood was a veritable skating rink.  Poor little bobble zombie
shivered the whole way! But he always does.
There are a few cute little gift shops and antique stores all right in a row on the highway, and it was nice to stroll down the frozen sidewalk and poke into them.  I enjoy winter.  Well, I enjoy all the seasons, and but always ready for them as they come, and as winter's been a long time coming, I have definitely been enjoying it now that it's here.  The only thing that could have made it better would have been ending the jaunt in a cozy little coffee shop, the likes of which we don't have in these parts.  Instead, we stopped at Ray's to get eggs, and the guys who were out processing deer thanked Jesse for opening the car door for me.  No coffee shops, but yes, the local grocery store doubles as a deer processing plant.

As the last stop we went to WalMart to return a movie, pick up a new one, get Jesse some long underwear, and look for knitting needles and yarn.  He has these mittens that he wears hunting, but they're really beat up and full of holes.  My husband is so assured of my domestic capabilities (domestic bad ass-ery, if you will excuse the term), that he was convinced that, notwithstanding the fact that I have never attempted anything of the sort, I am fully capable of fixing the holes in his mittens.
Well.  I sent pictures to my mother (because she is much more domestically BA than I am), and she said that it would be easier to unravel it and knit them over again.
Jesse said no.  He also said it didn't have to be pretty, just "tie some knots in there to hold it together!"
My mother texted me a long explanation of how to do it, which I proceeded to skim over and then ignore.  You know me; I never follow instructions.  Long story short, it's a good thing he didn't insist on beauty, because I am far from an experienced knitter, I ended up sewing one part together rather than knitting, and my yarn was way too big.  WalMart doesn't have the greatest selection.  But I figured it out, the gloves seem to be holding together, and each patch got progressively better, until the last one almost even looks decent! 
I still feel like he would be better off with some new ones...but it reminded me how much I enjoy knitting.  Plus, it gave me something to do while he played video games that actually felt productive!  So after the glove patching product, I started on my prototype for a headband.

After a few hours on Sunday while he was out hunting, I am proud to say that I successfully created a cabled earwarmer for Jesse, without even using a pattern.  Totally homeschooler moment, but I'm ok with it, and he wore it and it kept his ears warm (he had some design input as well) so he can't make too much fun of me for it.
Now I have to come up with one for myself...it should be easier, because I won't have to make a skinny part to fit over a baseball cap.
And that concludes this episode of Our Great Texas Adventure.  Hope it didn't bore you too much.  I get excited about nerdy things.  And crafts.
P.S. the flower is not attached to Jesse's earwarmer...Just another project that happened to be in the picture.

Winter.

Today was the first really wintery day we have had. It started out around 32 and has dropped a little since then, but felt like it was about 15 what with the wind and the hail.  Thankfully we didn't have any golf ball sized hail stones like we have heard horror stories about, but these tiny little ones sure sting your face when they're being pelted at you. Unthankfully, I realized that I left all my coats in Oregon, and had to buy one at WalMart for $40 plus tax. Dumb.
There isn't much else to tell about today, except that I made some fantastic hot chocolate with allspice and cinnamon and ginger and nutmeg.  My marshmallows are getting very stale, though, which is sad.
 I only subbed one day this week, in second grade, and had one of the kids whose mom works at party planet.  His name is Cole, and all the kids were shocked that I knew his name.  Actually, I learned all their names pretty quickly, I was proud of myself.  Second grade is definitely different than third.  In third grade the 45 minutes of each subject is painfully long, and most of the class finishes their work in about half the time.  But in second grade, on the other hand, it's hardly enough time for even the quicker students, and most of them had work left over to do at the end of the day.  Well, as the teacher that was out at recess with me said, it's always better to have too much work than not enough.
In other news, I allowed us to run out of ice cream this week, and I thought Jesse was going to have me excommunicated.  I intended to wait until we go into "towntown" and buy ice cream then, because it's so much cheaper, but it was not to be.  Luckily for all of us, the ice cream was on sale.  Still not cheap, but not as expensive as normal.  And when you take gas into account, it's probably worth it.
I was informed yesterday that we are proceeding with the orphan thanksgiving as previously discussed, meaning that it will be hosted at Dave's house, Jody will do the shopping, at Dave will pay for it.  Also, Mel will do the turkey, since neither Jody nor I have as yet attempted such a feat, Jody will do the ham, and I will do everything else.  First thanksgiving as a wife and I get to do it all.  Yay me!  Not really.  I am quite thankful not to have the meat resting in my hands. Cristin and I were just talking today about how we are nor meat cookers.  But Jody asked me if I knew how to make mashed potatoes...uhh, even Jesse knows that one.  But he's an islander, so I can't give him too much crap.  After all, he's bringing his rice cooker, because you can't possibly have a meal without rice!
It will be good to start building new traditions, like rice at thanksgiving.  I am looking forward to getting everyone together again.  I know they all see each other every day at work, but now that we have two cars I rarely see anyone, and I haven't seen Mel and baby Eli since he was a couple days old!  I guess that's partially my fault, though.  I could always go see them.
Anyway.  I hope everyones thanksgiving preparations are going well.  Know that we are missing you, and can't wait to come home.  In the meantime, try some spiced up hot chocolate and think of me!

Zombies, fruit snacks, and sadomasochism.

Last weekend was Kyler's birthday party.  We were invited to go on a tour of the Cowboy's stadium with the Strawinians that Saturday, and since everyone planned on leaving early, we left as soon I got off work on Friday.  Friday evening was spent playing football at Trista's house (Jason's sister) and watching Emily display her skills in Tae Kwan Do and her ability to put her entire fist in her mouth.  That one I must admit was my fault...I told her about Sarah and her pride in that ability, even though we all told her it isn't something to be proud of.  So of course Emily had to try it.

When it got too dark to see the football, even with the porch light on, we went inside and watched more football, until everyone got hungry.  They eat dinner much later than we do, by the by.  Then we drove out to New York Hill for dinner, where Trista and her dad (Frank) proceeded to quote the Gettysburg Address.  Trista also demonstrated that she has memorized all the states in alphabetical order.
From the kids' table, I heard Keaton say "Do you know the states in alphabetical order? My mom does."  It's good to hear that Nerddom is still valued!

On a side note, I was subbing a third grade class, and got a note from a mother, saying that she did not make her daughter write a sentence using her spelling word "its" because she (the mom) didn't think it was a word, and it should be "it's".  They were doing homophones.  Its and it's were both on the list, as were hole and whole, their and there, etc.  It made me die inside a little bit.

So we stayed that night at the Strawn compound.  Jason, Mandy, their daughters, her parents, and her sister are all living there, plus us.  It was quite the party.  Mandy's parents are the most wonderful, welcoming people.  We are truly blessed to have been brought into such a lovely family.  The next morning everyone woke up and watched sponge bob while eating their biscuits and bacon, and we loaded up in the Tahoe and made it out of the house only a few minutes behind schedule.
A couple hours later, we rolled up at the Cowboys stadium.  Now I'm not really into football, but it was an impressive building.  The ceiling opens up and the side walls are giant sliding doors, that if opened one at a time would create such a great change in pressure that all the windows in the place would shatter.  Of all the things we saw, that was the one I remembered...sometimes I wonder about my memory.  Anyway, after the tour, we went to Dave and Busters and played enough arcade games for Jesse to buy a little Zombie whose brains pop out when you squeeze him and who is now the Tahoe mascot.  After that we drove another 30 miles or so to go to Main Event, where everyone bowled a game, played Laser Tag (our team lost.  We definitely had inexperience on our side) and more arcade games.  The last stop was at a store alot like Cabela's but the name of which has escaped my memory.  They have a giant fish tank that you can walk around behind and see the fish like you're underground...you know, like at the zoo.  It was pretty sweet.  I didn't do much sight seeing there, because I was wandering around the gift shop on the phone with Courtney, which honestly was more interesting to me.  After a quick (ish) stop at Jack in the Box, we finally turned homeward sometime after 10, and decided to stay another night in Strawn, because Jesse was exhausted.  I slept most of the way home, but I was happy to go to bed as well.
Anyway, we ended up going to Strawn for a birthday party and staying for three days.  It was long, and it's always stressful for me to not be home and following my own routine, but it was a very good weekend, and it was good to spend time with the family.  I'm starting to feel more at home there, and that makes me happy.
The next week passed without anything remarkable happening.  We made a trip to Abilene on Saturday and finally got my name changed at the bank, and then on Sunday we went turtle shooting.  There's a guy here at

church who has the biggest tanks in town, and he stocks them with catfish that he loves.  Unfortunately, when the other tanks dry up, all the turtles go to his, and they eat the baby catfish, so he shoots the turtles to keep them away from his fish.  He says they're predators.  Ever since he told Jesse about it, they've been planning to make time for us to go out there and shoot turtles.  It's been hard because his wife had a stroke at the beginning of the summer, and can't get around too well, so they've moved into town and don't go out to the ranch often.  But he told us while we were at the potluck after church that they were planning on going out after lunch.  The nurse from North was sitting next to us, and said "shooting turtles! That leads to child abuse, you know!"  And everyone started laughing.  Apparently years ago she was chaperoning a youth group trip, and ended up giving a 30 minute speech on the dangers of basically everything, and predicting that they would all grow up to be mass murderers and sadomasochists.  She's never lived it down, but it doesn't seem that she's trying very hard to do so.
John has a beautiful ranch about 20 miles out of town.  It has trees!  I've missed trees.  They do exist around here, but there aren't many here, close to town.  It was beautiful.  I'm not much of a turtle shot, but it was good fun anyway.  He drove us around the property, and told us that if we ever want to come back to just text or call him so he knows, but he doesn't need to be there.  He's planning on putting a lock on the gate, but he said he'll give us the combination.  People have all been so nice.  He told us that they just want us to feel at home, and to feel that we have people that we can go to if we need anything.  They seem like a very sweet old couple, and I'm glad that we're getting to know them a little, although I'm pretty sure everyone is going to be heartbroken when we move to Strawn, which is the plan for the near-ish future.  A year or so, hopefully.  But that's just the nature of moving across the country, I guess.  You land wherever you land, and then it takes time to figure out where you actually want to be.
I have no smooth transition here, so thankfully I'm not getting graded on this.  My transitions were always the harshest criticized parts of my academic writing.

I attempted to make my own fruit snacks today.  They were super easy, but turned out a little spongey.  From what I've read, that's what happens when you add the gelatin without letting the fruit cool down enough, but they still taste good, and have to be better for you than the ones that I've been buying (only four ingredients, they use honey, so there's no sugar) so I'll have to get some more gelatin and try it again.  Although this time I do believe I'll buy the organic kind from amazon.  Apparently the Knox

brand doesn't have all the wonderful nutritional benefits that organic gelatin has.  Of course, I'm not totally worried about being healthy (I was eating starbursts and BBQ chips for my lunch as I made the fruit snacks), but it's cheaper to buy it in bulk anyway, and I've read that if you add it to your shampoo, it makes your hair super thick and wonderful.  I've been reading alot.  Nerding out.  You know how it goes.

And that's about it.  I'm off to go make some chicken nuggets for dinner.  Two new recipes in one day!  So exciting!

Holidays

One holiday down, albeit one I am not accustomed to celebrating, and many more to go, Lord willing! We spent the Saturday before Halloween in Strawn (shocker) with the Strawnians, aka Strawn family, which confuses me because Jason's last name is Figuroa or something like that, and I always think of the Douglas County Strawns. Anyway. I should probably put off writing this till the movie is done...it's distracting me.
to be continued....
So we went to Strawn for the Halloween carnival that happens the weekend before Halloween every year. Apparently they figure that if they do all the festivities on a weekend, the kids will be able to stay up later. To us, it was just a chance to tag along with other people's children and eat their candy. The carnival was basically a bouncy house and a couple games, but everyone enjoyed it, and then we went over to Jason's house where Jesse was introduced to Diablo. Jason is very good at introducing Jesse to video games. I followed them around for a little whole and was very happy to hand the controller off to Ashley very quickly.
Anyway, eventually it got darkish, and the kids put on their costumes and we met the rest of the family at Mandy's parents' house.

The day before Emily told Jesse to guess what she was going to be for Halloween. "I'll give you a hint; it has 'bat' in it.". "bat man?" "what would bat man be if he was a little girl?" "bat boy?" "noo!! Bat GIRL!"

Just Jason's family (extended in many branches, mind you, but still family...everyone except us, of course) filled two pickups, and we joined the train of pickups with beds full of children making their way through the town. Unfortunately, it was short lived. It started pouring rain and lightninging so everyone in the bed decided it was time to go home and watch football. We hung out there, watching football, eating some sort of casserole, and playing basketball in the hallway until 11:00 when I rounded up my child and made him drive me home. I always feel bad that I have tone the party pooper, but he would play with those children (and Jason) all night, and it's not exactly a hop skip and a jump to get back home.
Besides, we couldn't skip church the next morning because we had plans to have lunch with Jimmy Moreno, the associate pastor, and his family, and he was very persistent. The first time I saw him, I had a feeling that he and ny father would get along nicely. Jesse and I wondered from across the sanctuary whether the kids in both the front two rows were his, or just the first one. He plays the guitar, quoted Yoda from the pulpet, and has just the beginnings of a deeply spiritual haircut. Turns out only the front pew was his, but he had another in the nursery, which brought them up to 5. Hannah, Rebecca, Josiah, Sarah, and Lydia. He said there would be a test. There never was, but I studied anyway. Yes, four girls and one boy. They are homeschooled, never watch football (don't have tv, so they can't) his wife was a music major, she has a midwife, she always buys him Pixar movies for christmas, as a family they dressed up as Narnians last Halloween, and his text alert is "bee do bee do bee do!". I do believe we have found the closest thing to Texans who will understand me.
The strangest thing was this concept of talking to your pastor. I have never really had a pastor. I had pastor Tim, but even then, our "group" was pretty unconventional, and I have never felt like anyone in my life held that role. Pastors that I know are always friends of my dad, dads of my friends, or husbands of my friends. They always hold another role besides pastor, and interact with me accordingly. I've never had a pastor and his wife sit me down and ask what my story is, when I came to know the Lord, or if I am right with God. I guess those are questions that pastors ask. Jesse wasn't surprised by it a bit, but the pastors in my life have always known those things, and I was never one of their new little sheep that they wanted to learn more about and hold onto. In that way, Jimmy and Anna were the furthest thing from pushy, and seemed laughingly embarrassed when I described the week before as "set the hook Sunday". They didn't act like we were a statistic, or a "prospect", which was nice.
 Honestly, it's probably good for me to have someone in that role. Don't get me wrong, I love being in ny father's church. I always know that I agree with him, I usually know the end of the illustration before he has finished the opening line, and I know my place. I guess that's what it is that makes people comfortable anywhere they go. We all want to know what our place is, and what role we are expected to play, even if it is just innocent bystander. But I digress. I have said many times that it would be good for me to go someplace else and be challenged a little and actually think in church (it's amazing the different things you think about when you hear a sermon come from someone you aren't used to talking with every day), but as often as I have tried, it was going to take me a very long time to get away from Colton Community Church. It's home, like it or not. Thankfully, God made that decision for us. 2000 miles is a heck of a commute, even if it's just once a week. I would have to get up waaaay too early for that!
Well. This has drifted a long way from Halloween and Strawn. Suffice it to say, we also went trick or treating here in Breckenridge with the Figuroas and the Leon Guereros (Jody and Kian) last night as well, and they got a good deal more candy because it didn't rain.
Also, I was walking through WalMart and saw all the Christmas stuff and smelled all the candles, and now I wish I had some way to decorate for Christmas, but A. it feels dumb to decorate a house when I am the only one who will appreciate it, B. I would have to buy all new decorations, and that's just lame, and C. it's really hard to decorate around skulls and crap like that. Tin walls are not very aesthetically pleasing, and would just seem out of place with anything but cowboy paraphernalia adorning it. I could do some candles though...(see picture below)
This is getting too long. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!