Disaster Area

We had a birthday party at our house last night.  Only 6 people and 1 dog came over, but it looks like 16 people were here...

Holy cow.  NYE is going to be very painful for a few people this year.  I went to bed by midnight because I worked on Friday so I was tired, but the peeps sort of kept me up and stayed up until 3:30am. That time of the morning is Obscene!  We're all exhausted today, including Mia.

Last Day of Vacation

This has been the most active Christmas vacation in recent memory: loads of cooking, family time, cleaning, organizing, buying big expensive shit, and just checking stuff off our to-do list.  I've done a lot over the past few days, but the items the stand out to me the most:

How to Not sell a car.

We test the new Ford Focus.  It was a piece of shit, don't even bother if you want a car that will survive New England roads.  VW takes us for 2 test drives - the 2012 Passat and 2012 Jetta.  We only liked the newer body styles.  Unexpectedly we loved the fully loaded Passat, the drive was really smooth and overall comfortable.  We sit down to talk about price and our sales guy Would Not Budge.  He went from being a friendly old grandpa to being an unreasonable Turd.  Finally we realized that the highest level Passat wouldn't come down to our price range, so we could try the next model down and then they argued about Literally $10 per month until we were both willing to get up and walk away.  It wasn't so much that the $10 per month was going to break the bank, but it was more than that - we just knew that they could come down more and they just weren't.  So we get up and walk out the door, we're pulling out and the manager comes running out, "blah blah blah we can bring it down to within $4 of what you wanted...blah blah" so we're just like, "ok, we're going to eat lunch... we'll call you."  We eat lunch, and then they call again and say "Ok, we'll match your offer, will you come back and buy the car?"  Answer: NO BITCHES.  We went to Volvo, bought ourselves an awesome fucking car for way less headache, way less hassel, a better service plan, and basically the same price.  I really don't think that they played that game right.

How To Buy a Treadmill.

Show up in full on running attire.  Run on the darn things in the store - try all the features like turning on the fans, inclines, walking vs. running, programs, etc.  How much noise does it make?  How sturdy does it feel?  Is there a place for your water and ipod?  Is this something that you are actually going to use or is it going to collect dust more often than not?  We found a mid range Sole model that we were pretty happy with and it was on sale.  The highest model Precors that you see at gyms are Awesome, but in all honesty it's not going to melt your fat away and more than a mid-range model.  This was a really fast purchase, we were in and out of the sporting goods store in 10 minutes.  Unfortunately, it won't be delivered until January 13th...which means my full body pain will be delayed until then!

How to Try Something New and Love it.

We belong to Costco and so we tend to buy our cases of beer there for the holidays and just for ourselves - we drink a lot of beer (also the reason we need a treadmill).  They change up the beer selection and this time there were cases of Guinness for something really cheap, like $24 or something, so Abe snagged one for Christmas.  Christmas Eve was the first time that I've ever cracked open a Guinness and I drank the entire thing and Loved it.  This was always a beer that I didn't think was for me - it looks so dark and full bodied, and my taste is usually lighter and stereotypically girly.  If you are afraid of this beer because it looks too dark for you, just ignore the color, and you will find that it's actually a very light tasting and feeling beer.  I can't wait to have one tonight!  I know this is one of those things that most people have figured out much earlier in life, but I'm stubborn.

Surprises.

My mother and father in law offered to bring us a piece of their old furniture up from Florida.  They moved from a huge house to a condo and then bought another house so they've been going through their stuff for what seems like years now trying to get rid of things - but they hate the idea of throwing things out.  At first I was thinking that this was going to be a terrible idea, I mean who wants a really old Korean chest?  It sounded like something that we would take and probably hide somewhere in a room that nobody uses.  The look of surprise on my face when it entered the house must have been priceless, I loved it right away.  It's very small and fits perfectly in our entrance way, which is a tricky area due to size restrictions. I'd been looking for something to put against that wall for months now but couldn't find anything small enough, and then BAM in came this antique chest.  I will try to find something to put on top of it this week, but like most things, it will likely take a lot longer.

I go back to work tomorrow, and this place is still a dump.  If you will be on vacation for the rest of the week, please enjoy it!

Christmas Miracle

This year we hosted Christmas for the very first time at our new house.  Abe's entire family came over from all over the east coast for the holiday - 15 people total... meaning 17 (7 of which were kids) of us plus 1 dog.  This was no easy task but overall it went over much more smoothly than imagined.  6 people stayed at the house, 5 people in a hotel nearby, and 4 live close enough that they could commute over a few days.

The hardest part about hosting this many people is meal planning: breakfast x 3, lunch x 3, and dinner x 2.  Breakfast was simple enough, just scrambled eggs with bagels and coffee.  Lunch was Papa Ginos on day 1, a mess of Raman style noodles with kim chi and rice on day 2, and pasta with sweet Italian sausages and salad on day 3.  Dinner on Christmas Eve was Chinese delivery and beers with mac and cheese for the kids, and on Christmas day it was a gigantic prime rib with mashed potatoes, salad, steamed green beans and rice and kim chi of course with wine.  Each meal was followed by a large array of desserts that seemed to never end.  I didn't plan ahead as much as I probably could have - we went back to the grocery store once, but we also only have 1 fridge and I know many people with houses tend to have 2 just for this purpose.

The kids were kept happy with the Wii and all the new toys that Santa delivered (oh my God, So Many Toys!) so it was a lot less loud and chaotic than it normally is on these kinds of holidays.  We are lucky enough to have a fully finished and warm basement for them to play in, and that made a huge difference.  This was also the first time that I could speak up and "yell" at them when they were out of line with each other, and unexpectedly they totally listened to me.

Abe did most of the cooking and I did most of the cleaning, which we're both happy to do because we really go crazy when there are too many people in the kitchen.  That sort of madness is not welcome here, and usually that's exactly what it's like coupled with people yelling at each other and bumping into one another while a kid is pulling on a shirt and asking for more juice.  My mother and father in law barely lifted a finger when it's usually them who do the bulk of the work and I think this was very welcome to them and also surprising.

Mia fared well with everyone in the house.  She barked at the kids as expected, but she did get used to them after some time.  We tried a vibrating bark collar on her for Day 2 and it worked, but it also made her really weary of everything.  Once we took it off after a couple hours, she acted as though she still had it on and behaved herself for the rest of the day.  Mia even jumped into the annual family photo - unexpected and hilarious.  She's very happy that everyone is gone now - and is also really confused as to where everyone went but is really enjoying her new toys that Santa brought.  She had a bit of an embarrassing stomach ache but seems to be feeling better and is liking the quiet that our house normally holds - we are all enjoying the smaller volume of noise!  Hopefully it lasts for a couple days...

Invasion

The holiday invasion has begun... I don't feel equipped.  Mia is afraid of everything already and it's going to get a whole lot more overwhelming this afternoon.  I think the dog and I feel the same way.  I tried to get her to pose with the bow on her head but of course that was the challenge to end all challenges.  She shook it off, stole it, and then ran around with it like it was a new treasure.  This is probably good since it was Almost like a Christmas gift, and we didn't get her anything yet...

Merry Christmas.

Challenges Now Being Accepted

Last night, Abe and I tucked Mia into her crate and headed over to a friend's house in the city for dinner... dinner was made by a chef, dessert was made by a baker, entertainment provided by a new baby and later Trivial Pursuit.  Going over to some one's house for dinner is one thing... going over to some one's house and having all natural red wine and cheese to start followed by a seafood soup with all sorts of things that you didn't even know were delicious, coupled with a really light salad and homemade croutons, is a completely different night.  This was the best meal that I've had in the past 5+ months, I'm not even kidding here.  Our friend is so talented when it comes to cooking, but the best part about it is that he always serves me things that I never would order on my own but still find delicious.

We hung out with their newish baby, and another couple was there who own a bakery (more on the baked goods to come).  Once the baby went to bed, the real idiotness began.  They insisted that we play Trivial Pursuit - Genius Edition.  I was a little nervous because like the whole "genius" edition, I'm no genius.  I believed my knowledge base to be current events, pop culture, and stupid shit that nobody cares about.  It turns out that my knowledge base is Much broader than expected and includes even more stupid shit.  I would like to thank The History channel and Tutenstein for all the shows I've seen on for the history of Egypt.  I would like to thank other bloggers for the proper usage of Venn Diagrams.  It also greatly helped that Abe seemed to know everything that I didn't (like Newt Gingrich has been married 3 times? Yeah, didn't know that.), and vice versa.  This was the Only time that we've ever worked as a team during a game and not killed each other, because we cleaned house and Killed the two other couple teams.  We hereby retire from this edition of Trivial Pursuit so we can go out on top!

After the slaughter, we were served chocolate cookies sprinkled with powdered sugar.  They were like little lava cookies or something, like so super rich and decadent.  THEN we were served tart cherry pie and let me tell you, tart cherry pie is a million times better than regular cherry pie.  The desserts were fantastic and it always amazes me how crazy good our friends are at cooking and baking.  In that respect, we've very much dead weight.  I couldn't even find any flour in the house to make a dessert for later on - who doesn't have any flour??  We are however, the Trivial Pursuit - Genius Edition Champions!

Time is flying by

Things that are going really well right now:

• Work (surprisingly)
• Having the Christmas tree in the house with Mia
• Remembering to water the tree
• The fact there is no snow yet
• Our house maintenance (a few important repairs this week)
• My vegetable eating initiative
• Our second car hunt is looking up

There are plenty of items that need to get taken care of before Christmas but like whatever, one big run to Costco and 1 big order from Amazon should take care of most of these little issues.  The rest is totally out of our control, but I've come to grips with the fact that all I can hope for is no major disasters.  Mia will likely scare all the kids and that's expected, hopefully she is just able to get through a few days of madness.  We had a huge breakthrough this morning at the dog park with a little girl around 8 years old.  Mia did Not bark at her, and this is probably the first time in ages where she didn't... sure she jumped up on her but she does that with like every person in the world.  Little victories are still important.

Holiday Lights

How many boxes of lights would you say that one might need to light up only 2 bushes?  My best guess was 4 because I am an idiot.  We got 6 boxes just in case right after Thanksgiving and even that was Far from enough.  Back to the store Abe went to pick up 6 more boxes but Of Course they were out of the exact ones that we picked up the first time.  "White Lights" should be white no matter what the brand though right?  Both were LED.  This was a mistake.  To make the best of a bad situation, we decided to simply alternate the strands so maybe it A. wouldn't be as obvious or B. would look intentional.  I think it looks intentional, but it also looks really bad.  This was the Only night that we actually put them on... we look like idiots.

My Jewish friend said they look like Hanukkah bushes, and I think she may be on to something.  The blueish-ness really doesn't say Christmas.  So this year we have a nicely decorated tree with matching lights, stockings, and a few other things that my mom dropped off today (think funny stuffed snowmen...) and that's where our holiday decorating ends.  It's sort of sad, but only because we failed so miserably in execution.  Next year, we'll do better!  Abe wants to get one of those inflatable thingies to put in the yard.  One of our neighbors has an inflatable Santa who sits in a helicopter and the propeller actually spins!  I usually hate that crap, but I kind of like that one.

Oh wait, also, our friend gave us this guy:

It's a dog made out of mesh wire and lights.  We put it up to be funny, but it was decidedly way too flimsy and ridiculous.  The weakest wind would toss this thing across the road and then we'd have to go retrieve it at our neighbor's house and have to admit that it was really ours.  It lives in the garage now but will probably come back out in later years.

Our Tree

December 10th.  It's not time to panic yet... I mean, it's slowly setting in.  The reality is that I haven't done much Christmas shopping at all (notice the 1 gift under the tree so far).  Our tree and our stockings are up, but that's where our holiday cheer ends.  It just doesn't feel like Christmas yet.

I have no idea what to get anyone as far as gifts, and I don't even know what I'd want in my stocking.  I could really use a vacation, but there's just no time for that right now.  We will likely be getting a treadmill soon though, which is like big news.  We have been completely inactive since September and we can really tell.  I'm still down a bunch of lbs. but I'm like super soft, like marshmallow soft.  Never in my whole life have I felt so... unfirm.  The treadmill will be great in the winter, since joining a gym out here was less than appealing.  Gyms in the burbs are filled with dads and high school kids.  Gyms in the city are filled with people my own age.  I think I'll stick to working out at home for now.  Mia will even be joining the treadmill workouts.  Her trainer uses the treadmill for his dogs to keep them active in the cold weather and Mia needs this as well since she has so much energy.  A tired dog is a good dog.

I've also been noticing my poor diet lately... and it's bad.  It seems that I only eat veggies 1/10 as often as I did this summer.  My diet mostly consists of eggs, rice, and chicken.  That doesn't sound all that bad but where are the fruits and veggies?  MIA.  After Thanksgiving, I ate pie every single day for like 7 days straight.  At work each day, my friends and I have a "treat".  This is either a piece of cake, a cookie, Pinkberry, a piece of candy, or a Rice Krispy Treat (mega sized).  I've never been big into sweets, but these days they are a huge part of my daily intake since I'm really not eating as big of a quantity as usual.  I am like a walking bag of sugar!  I really need to clean this up and I know the holidays aren't really the time for this so I'm just going to try and eat some veggies at lunch in the very least and then phase out the treats after New Years or something.  This is normal for the most part I think - to just get sucked into the holidays and forget to eat nutritious foods?

Back to Christmas shopping - am I being overly picky or is there just a lot less interesting gifts out there this year?  I generally have no problems finding things for people but I go into stores now and Nothing looks appealing to me.  Is this season less creative?  Am I more picky?  Neither answer will find me gifts for under the tree...