Christmastide

I'm going to attempt to make this bloog a little more personal, so I'll probably be posting more pictures and general happenings from here on out. So get ready- if you know me, you know how much I love taking photographs.

We went to San Antonio this season where my brother (David) and sister-in-law (Melanie) now live, along with 3 year old Cecelia (aka C.C.), 21 month old Leyla, and the newest addition, Maggi, born in November. Although we were sad to miss all the fun and festivities in Colorado, we were at least able to meet up with Abe and Rebekah (Nate's brother and his wife) a couple of times since they were also visiting family in San Antonio for the holidays.

So enjoy, and Happy New Year y'all!

On our way out to San Antonio, we stopped to have breakfast with my cousin and her husband (and daughter) who were in town for a few days in Katy. It had been at least 5 years since I'd seen her, so it was a fun little reunion. While in San Antonio, we baked and decorated cookies:

We napped underneath the Christmas tree:

We even painted ceramic frogs/pots, planted seeds, and then yelled "GROW! GROW!" at the frog every morning:

We feasted:
We hiked:
And of course, we cooed:
And thank goodness we were able to see Abe and Bekah!

The Plumber's Crack: Truth, not myth

I'm working from home this morning (I know, if I'm supposed to be working, I need to make this quick), as the plumbers are back to finish the repair of our leaky pipe in the bathroom. The dry wall people will be by next week to assess the damage and make the repairs. I'm sure I'll post more later, as well as pictures so you can see the giant hole in our ceiling, which Cheyenne has been desperately trying to get up into, meowing as though she were in heat.

For whatever reason, the condo association sent a three-man plumbing show for what seems to me to be a simple fix (but what do I know about plumbing?). When they were here on Monday, Nate stayed here with them and said that the leader of the pack had the typical plumber's crack hanging out of his pants. I found out as a young child that the plumber's crack is not just in the cartoons. I can vividly picture a plumber with his head stuck under our kitchen sink with his butt crack hanging out in clear view. I, a small child, was horrified. Or more likely just plain disgusted.

Anyway, I am working in the guest bedroom/ office with the doors shut, with Cheyenne, while Nate is out with the circus. I am glad I don't have to see any bare bottoms today. Hopefully they will be gone soon so that we can get to our respective workplaces.

1 week until Christmas!

It's a little disappointing... we've only received 12 cards so far, and Christmas is less than seven days away. Our annual Christmas Wall o' Cards is looking a bit bare. I'm pretty sure we had many more than that last year by now. Is the economy seriously hindering card-sending this season?

Anyway, special props to the following households from whom we have received cards (in order of receipt)*:

1. Vicki Vroble (a stamped, addressed bouncy red ball... the best Christmas card we have ever received)
2. Moses and Sung Chil Park
3. Kate and JD Stuart
4. Tara and Daniel Wainwright
5. Carey and John Peek
6. Emily and Drew Sanders
7. Christina and Jesse Yen and family
8. Susie and Dwight Johnston and family
9. Elizabeth Kanter
10. George Mouhlas
11. Melanie and David Hsieh and family
12. Katie and Garrett Fox and family

* Rachel and Stephen Hsieh have sent us theirs via email; by tradition, the hard copy will appear in our stockings on Christmas morn...

Yummy in my tummy

Currently I gobble down a variety of chocolates, including but not limited to:

-Chocolate covered gummy bears
-Blueberry chocolate balls
-Caramel chocolate balls

(my favorites)

I am realizing that one of the perks of this job is the steady supply of gifts during the Christmas season. Yesterday I came into my offce to find a gift sitting on my desk from one of the department administrative assistants. Yes, she has a key to my office. (Should that make me nervous?) It was a beautiful Christmas mug filled with a hot chocolate packet, gingerbread spice tea bags, a homemade coaster, and lots of goodies. It gave me the warm fuzzies, as I have not received a Christmas gift like this since grade school. You know, the kind that's not from a family or friend, but from someone that you work with, or school with. Today my boss came by with a bag of gourmet chocolates (partially described above) and I have been eating them all morning. (Come on, stomach ache! But I don't care. It tastes de-lish. Except, perhaps I should save some for Nate).

This afternoon is the staff holiday party (holiday, not Christmas. sigh).

I feel like I'm in grade school again, when we used to have Christmas party day and all we would do all day is exchange little gifts like candy canes and chocolate, and have punch and cookies while listening to a Christmas story or watching a Christmas movie in our pjs. Too bad they don't have pjs & movie day for adults.


p.s. I know, I saw the chocolate covered gummy bears and almost hurled immediately. And then I put one in my mouth, and I proceeded to glow with glee.

It's ok to say Merry Christmas

I received a button from a friend this week with those words on it. And I was encouraged.

The next day, while hanging up from a conference call, everyone exclaimed, "Happy Holidays!," and I was thus very discouraged. I am not accustomed to hearing this phrase. Growing up, even in public school (shriek!), we greeted each other with "Merry Christmas" and even had Christmas concerts complete with Christmas carols, nativity scenes, and excerpts from the Bible. I can hardly believe how much has changed in 10-15 years. From what I have heard, public schools today are limited to Holiday Concerts that have absolutely no mention of the word Christ to spread holiday cheer. But really, what is holiday cheer without the celebration of the birth of our Savior?

Snap, Crackle, Pop, and Caramel

My mom forwarded me an email about a month ago with links to at least a dozen Christmas candy recipes. This one caught my eye: Caramel Krispie Treats. Nate and I highly recommend them, as did Kate Schmate.

The doctor for eyeballs

After expressing some concern about the health of my eyeballs with my primary care physician (PCP) a few weeks ago, I went to see an ophthalmologist this morning. My grandmother had glaucoma and my dad had cataracts which required surgery. Lately, I've been more aware of the floating blobs in my field of vision and an occasional flash of light that I see from the corner of my left eye whenever I blink. I was a little paranoid when I started noticing the flash of light.

A few weeks back when I actually made the appointment, it became clear to me that my PCP had referred me to a glaucoma specialist where I would receive a full glaucoma screening. I didn't exactly want a glaucoma screening necessarily, but just a full comprehensive eye exam. I was sure that I would be the only person in the doc's office under the age of 60. And I was.

Nonetheless my visit was productive. I received a full visual fields test, yellow eyedrops for testing my eye pressure, had my eyes dilated, and got some baseline photos of my optic nerve in both eyes to take home for my heath files so that "later in life, when I actually have to worry about the disease, I will have something to compare my condition to." Clearly, I'm too young to be worrying about such things, and the verdict was that my eyes are healthy, even though I am as blind as a bat.

One downside to my visit was having to sit alone in a cold exam room without my contacts in while my eyes were dilating, with nothing to do or read (not that having anything to read would have made any difference since I couldn't see anything). Too bad I never even got a clear picture of the opthalmologist's face since my contacts were out during his entire exam. He even whipped out a model eyeballl and starting pointing at it while explaining the inner workings of the eye and I amusedly pointed out that really, I couldn't see what he was doing. The only other disappointment was the woman who took my optic nerve photos. I had to keep my eyes wide open and stare at a glaring light while at the same time staring at a blinking red light with my other eye. After each photo that she took, she would exclaim "Good girl!", at which point I felt like a blind puppy dog.

Once I finally put my contacts back in, my vision was still a little blurred from the dilation but I managed to make it downstairs, on the college shuttle, and back to my office for a very busy and productive day.