the christian left

So, we’re on the final countdown.  There is a LOT of knitting left to do.  Not enough hours in the day, I tell you…

Our house is really starting to feel like a home today since we were the proud recipients of a Planet of the Apes ring toss game (1973) and a multi-headed dragon incense burner.  It’s a sweet burner — you put an incense cone in the bottom and the smoke pours from the mouths of the dragon.  Ingenious.   We had to play a little dirty at the gift exchange, but we came home with the best presents for sure.

After the church party, we hit up the new Whole Foods in Green Hills.  Wow.  The mock chicken salad is (vegan) awesome.  We bought a pound of it.  It probably won’t last through the day.  I swear to you that it is the most divine thing we have EVER bought at a deli counter.  I wanted mainly to get an incense cone for aforementioned burner, but the Whole Body store was closed.  So, we just got the mock chicken salad and a few other sundries instead.  At $11/pound it isn’t cheap, but it’s WORTH EVERY CENT.  Especially, since I was a little tapped out on cooking.

Back in the saddle again today, though.  I’m going to hit up some cassoulet action for dinner.  Should warm us from this amazing chilly weather we have been fortunate enough to have.

What a good weekend we had — an awesome party with a lot of our amazing friends, a restful Saturday, and a Sunday with another party and a great gift exchange.  It may have been the  perfect balance of rest and play.

Give me all your cool t-shirts that would be too large for me possibly because you bought it in like 1993.  Seriously.  T-shirt surgery WORKS.  My batwing-esque party shirt is now a well-fitted garment.  Had I taken the time to measure and line things up as properly as when I sew something I plan on wearing a lot, it would be pro-quality.

For those  of you who don’t know, I ordered a funny t-shirt from cafepress.com and, well, they didn’t offer ladies’ sizes, so I ordered a men’s small in the baseball shirt style.  I assumed that this would be the most flattering to a female figure.  Wrong.  It had arms as large as some shirts I have are around.  So, I sliced and sutured, and now we have a much nicer specimen.

Life is too short to wear things that don’t fit properly.  Thanks to my heritage of seamstresses, I fearlessly plow into weird projects.  Sometimes they even work out.

Well, let’s start with the absurd.

The pill that turns your poo gold.  Nice and classy.  What isn’t classy about gold?  Check it out here…

Aside from that magnificent idea, I am a little tapped out.  I adore surprises and gift buying, but I usually don’t do as well as I had thought.  That’s hard when you’re married to the world’s best gift giver.  The most thoughtful gifts ever, I say.  I’m not usually blown away by something because it was expensive, it’s just that the gifts he gives are thoughtful and  appropriate.  But I think I’m mostly done.  I love having the gifts to put in the  stocking, too, and hopefully he’ll like ‘em this year.
For Christmas, I would like to be able to look at pics of myself and know I look pretty good and healthy and all.  Not get all depresso like I did last night/this morning looking at the pics of my from our vacation.  Seriously, though.  I exercise hard and that’s all I get?  Like I don’t have to listen to most of the people around me talk incessantly about their weight loss victories (mostly all the parental role models I have) and ask me what my weight/size are.  My weight hasn’t changed, my size hasn’t changed, although it should, and it’s really depressing, thanks for  asking.  But I don’t want to go on a “diet”.  How do people do it?  Ugh.

In lighter news, I have found a new route to run in the mornings.  It contains about 6 big hills, and it’s really challenging.  But it feels rather refreshing in the mornings.  Or afternoons, for that matter.  I have disciplined myself well to do my running and/or weight training in the mornings before breakfast.  This is HUGE since my whole day revolves around my 3 squares.

I have  been really busy wrapping gifts, knitting gifts, and all.  I wish I could post pics of the knitted gifts, but I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.  Today involves more domestic bliss, including a t-shirt surgery scheduled for this afternoon.  Followed by a “gourmet” pasta dinner.  Seriously, I apologize for the lack of culinary inspiration — I have been serving some less-than-impressive meals of late.  Saving up for Friday, I guess.  Wonder how many kinds of cookies I can make in a day?  Stay tuned for pics of  abundance…

Criminals incite riots.
Patriots incite war.

So we are childless this weekend.  You’d think thousands of ideas of things to do would surface easily due to the relentless discussions we have  in daily life  about how “if we didn’t have the kids to worry about, we’d…”  Eventually, we come up with ideas.  Most of which involve spending money.  We’ve used our time wisely in party preparation.  All the drinks have been purchased, all the plates/napkins/cups, and some other whimsies.  I mostly have the menu planned and the list made, but I won’t be purchasing food until closer to time.  It is something we adore getting to host, and we are so honored that people commit to coming to our event and sharing our celebration.  There’s not much we enjoy more than Christmas or celebrations, in general.  We have been hosting a Christmas party on some level every year that we’ve been married, so this is our seventh Christmas party to host.  It started out small, and it has simply compounded year after year.  B discovered that he is an expert at making egg nog, I learned the art of mulling, and some homemade cookies plus a fire in the fireplace make it complete.  We have been really blessed with friends and family, so we feel fortunate that we can do something fun around Christmas time.

I also think we make a good party planning team.  I have often thought I would enjoy being an event planner, despite the hours and  potential irritations of people, etc.  For some lame reasons, I adore parties.  I am not a particularly social creature, but I do love the idea of a party.  More specifically, a well-planned party.  You remember the not-so-well-planned parties, right?  The kind where people have like six drinks and a bag of  chips for 15 people?  We’ve been to a few of those.  And it is usually ok, but it was a challenge to us to figure out how to step up to the plate as it were and throw a real shindig, hootnanny, or party.  Nerds like to party, too, and nerds also enjoy having snacks.  Vegetarians, too.  Sometimes it’s funny how people show up to dinner or a party and had no idea we are vegetarian/vegan or that they had eaten that way until we draw attention to it.  I feel that is a huge success — typically people who are carnivores expect the dead flesh at each event, meal, snack, etc.  And to feel that those guests are satisfied is monumental.  But, at any rate, we love parties.  I draw out a huge list, we do the shopping, plan the music, you name it.  If money were no object, I’d host a party about once per month.

So, we’re getting ready.  And enjoying some time alone this weekend to reconnect and reset.  My parents have been fabulous in taking our kids and entertaining them in style and leaving us to our own devices.  We enjoyed a late dinner at Rumba, a place that may not even own a high chair, and slept in this morning.  I didn’t have to peel myself out of bed to get a cup of “gink” for the boy or to get a miserably paired outfit out of the closet at an ungodly hour for the girl.  I miss them so much, but that was pleasant this morning.