I am thankful.

This is my first Thanksgiving Day apart from my family, and I'm a little bummed about it truthfully. Thanksgiving with my family is no small affair. My dad is one of five children, and my mom's one of six; so no matter whose year it is, we're in a house full of people.

Lately, we've been having the Ellis Thanksgiving at my Aunt Mary's house. The spread will likely include family favorites: turkey, ham, canned cranberry sauce, stuffing, broccoli salad, sweet potatoes, green bean roll-ups, and numerous deserts. Yum! This year there's a new member of our clan, too.... Corinne, my cousin's new baby was born a few months ago; and I'm just sick I can't be there to see her.

Ellis memories:

-One year, my Grandmother Nancy made her 'famous' rum cake. I don't think she measured the key ingredient correctly, though, because no one under 21 was allowed to have a piece. (My grandparents are ARP Presbyterians = the temperate sect.)
-Half of this side of my family hail from Mississippi State while the other half call Ole Miss alma mater. This fact makes for tedious conversation about the upcoming Egg Bowl at the "kids' table" (at which the age limit gets mysteriously higher each year).
-Last year, my Aunt Martha Jane brought birthday cake so we could celebrate Joseph's (her adopted son) birthday. (His birthday is actually October 13th, but we had to have a big family party and take lots of pictures to submit to the adoption agency to prove that Martha Jane and Thomas are fit parents. And our scheme must have worked because right now they're in Russia getting a little girl - Julia. Maybe we'll have another birthday party on Christmas.)
-Washing dishes. It so happens that the responsibility of cleaning up falls to the Ellis women. After dinner, there are at least six women at the sink washing, drying, breaking (sorry, Mom!) and putting away dishes. This must be done by hand becuase we use the good silver, crystal, and china for these special occasions. The best conversation of the day comes during these dishwashing sessions while the men are all snoozing and/or talking about the football game(s).

The Skinner Thanksgiving is just as large an ordeal, but everyone is a little louder and more opinionated. (Ey, we're Italiano!) And while we always have turkey and dressing, one might see baklava, homemade raviolis, orange fluff, Jewish fruit cake (no, we're not Jewish), and any number of sugar-free desserts.

Skinner memories:

-One year, there was almost a riot because Grandmother Mary Ann didn't make her potato salad. (I think she just wanted to see what would happen.)
-Grandmother takes personal offence when someone won't try her cooking; and my cousin, Jenny, married an extremely picky eater (whose name always seems to slip Grandmother's mind). I made sure Sam knew about this, and then watched happily while he raved over her minced meat pie. "Oh, Mrs. Skinner, this is just the best thing I've ever put in my mouth!"
-Games of Balderdash, Taboo, etc. As I mentioned, almost everyone on this side of my family is boistrous; and no one is a very good sport. I don't have to elaborate about the fate of these 'family game times.' We since abandoned this tradition and, instead, all go see the latest holiday movie together. While the different features still raise some controversy, this activity is far less hostile than gaming.

Ahhh, there's nothing like family memories. I guess it's not all bad to have a year away. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!

A Quick Anecdote

In April, Sam and I received a wedding present in the mail. We unwrapped it to find a small, personal heater.

This, I thought, is a great gift; we've just moved to (what I consider) the north, and I'm completely cold-natured. Come winter time, I'll take this little guy to work with me and plug it in under my desk.... and I'll never have to debate my coworkers over the thermostat setting again!

So Sam and I stored the box under the bed with some of our winter clothes.

(Fast-forward to two weeks ago.)

It's finally getting cold here, and I remember my little heater waiting for me underneath the bed. Sam gets it out for me, and I carry it triumphantly into the office (feeling quite like the boy scout I never was). I open the box and begin to unwrap the first piece, never thinking it bizarre that a heater would come in pieces. I gasp.

Trying to process the little ceremic lid I've just uncovered, I unwrap the second item in the box.... a tastful ceramic urn.

Thoughts that occur to me:

-Where's my HEATER?!?
-How funny that this has been under the bed for months, and Sam and I never knew what it was!
-Gosh, this'll look nice anywhere in our house.
-I wrote a thank-you note to someone I don't even know for a gift they didn't give me! And now I have to write another one explaining all this!!

My coworkers got a good laugh out of watching me discover all these things; and I did a little research and found out that the giver of the heater is a first cousin of Sam's mom, whom, she says, will think all this is very entertaining. So no harm done, I guess.

Etiquette tips for the day:

When one is prudent enough to save time and funds by reusing a box in which to give a gift, one must also be contientious enough to note this fact on the exterior of the box.

When a note of gratitude is expected in response to a gift, the recipient(s) must take every possible precaution in determining the actual nature of the gift.

It's not easy being green

As I type this, I know exactly how Kermit the Frog felt. My arms and legs are tinted the astro turf green of patio furniture, I smell strongly of gasoline and vaguely of tropical passionfruit bodywash, and I think I'm going to have a blister on my pointer finger. HELP!

How did I get myself into this mess?

A couple in our church sent out a church-wide email stating that they were giving away a set of 'slightly rusted' patio furniture and a 'working' toaster. As Sam and I have a patio that we've never really used because we didn't want to invest in furniture for it (due to our relatively short stay here and the fact that we'd have to move it back to Mississippi with us), I saw this as a perfect opportunity! We can just use the furniture during our time here and then have the option to give it away before we move. Brilliant.

I called the couple to tell them Sam would be by to pick up the set of furniture on his way home from class one day. (On a side note...... although I couldn't tell it from their email, this couple is from Holland; and they have a very thick Dutch accent. Think Goldmember in Austin Powers - "my fazsher!" Very humorous, I think.) I was planning to make a quick job of spray painting the furniture to hide the rusty spots, but I'd never really done anything like that before.

So I called Mrs. Bonnie (Sam's mom) who can pretty much do anything (except wear dangly earrings, of course) to get directions for spiffing up our furniture. She told me get some Rust-oleum paint and give it a once-over, rust and all. OR, and I quote, "If you want to do it the easy way, just get Sam to get a wire brush and scrape off all the rust and then paint it." Well, that would be easy! But as Sam is out of town in San Diego this week, I decided to pursue the more difficult way of painting it myself.

I went to Wal-Mart, per her instruction, and purchased Rust-oleum paint in the shade of green closest to what the furniture already was. Then, I put on some old clothes and flip flops and situated the pieces of furniture in our back yard. Ready, set, go!

To skip the boring part, the furniture is painted and looks pretty nice. I may need one more can of paint to do some touch-ups, though. Anyway..... after I finished and came inside, I realized I had paint on my hands. Hmmm, dish soap isn't working. I called Sam, who told me to use the gasoline he has for the lawnmower. That got the paint on the palms of my hands to come off, but (maybe I was doing it wrong) it didn't make much of a difference anywhere else. I figured that the paint would wear off eventually, and it's only on my hands.... I should just take a shower.

Imagine my surprise when I look down to see a flip flop stenciled in green paint on my feet. Next, I realize that I'm a sickly green all the way up to my elbows and mid-thighs! Now hopeless, I finish my washing. Even if I wanted to take a petrol-shower, we don't have that much gasoline left; so I think I'm stuck. And that's the story so far. I'll post a picture of our new furniture (and of me if I'm still green) when Sam gets back.

DMB, John Mayer, Aaron Lewis, Halo 3, Starkville, Floatin', Roomba, etc.

The mood to post to this blog comes along quite infrequently. I've got a lot to catch up on.

Katherine and I have gone to a couple of concerts lately (both free!). VT held a concert to start the year, and it was widely publicized. Phil Vassar opened up, followed the the rapper, Nas. Both of them were horrible. I like country, but Phil just doesn't cut it. Nas; what can I say, pathetic. Then came John Mayer. That guy can play a stinkin' guitar like it was his job (which it is). I was impressed to say the least, plus he's dating Jessica Simpson. Then came, get ready Heather, Dave Matthews. We stayed for a few songs of his, then left. He's ok, but I can only take 15 minutes of one song so many times.

The other concert was a couple of weeks ago. I called in to the VT radio station while doing lab work at 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Supposedly, I was the second caller, but I have a hard time believing there was somebody listening to VT radio on a Saturday morning. Nevertheless, I won 2 tickets to hear an acoustic concert with Aaron Lewis, the lead singer of Staind, over in Roanoke that same night. He's pretty dark with his lyrics, as Katherine mentioned, but he's got some really good songs and a great voice. I put a video down below if you want to see.

Halo 3, the greatest game in the history of the world, came out a week ago. I beat the game yesterday. The multiplayer games are great, and I've gotten to play with my cousin Kurt (lives in Tupelo) several times. He's a bit better than me, but I will say I'm still getting back the feel for Halo after playing Battlefield 2 for so long.

This weekend, we're headed to God's country, Mississippi. We're flying out in a 4-seater on Thursday afternoon and should arrive in New Albany at around 4 p.m. I'm excited to get back. It's been about 4 months since I've seen the promised land. We'll head to Starkville Friday night, and partake in some MSU Homecoming festivities on Saturday. Sunday afternoon, we'll come back. Anyone who hasn't seen us in a while and plans to be in Starkville this weekend, let us know.

Katherine is in Minneapolis for work. Her company sends their employees there after they've worked about 6 months. Katherine flew out of Roanoke Sunday morning. After getting back from the airport, my friend Gaurav and I went to float down the New River on intertubes. We were the only 2 people who were out there all day long. The water wasn't even cold; it was spectacular. They give you an extra tube for your cooler, and you just sit back and let the water take you down. I've been fiddling with some video editing software, and this is what I came up with from the trip. Let me know what you think.

I've been getting some extra spending cash from advertising websites lately, and I've been trying to think of something to get for Katherine that we would normally not get ourselves. I found it tonight. It's called a Roomba, and it's an automatic vacuum cleaner. Some of you may have heard of them before; they've been out for several years. They just came out with a new model that claims to have fixed several short-comings from the previous version. Anyways, I'm a sucker for free trials now, and I really think Katherine will enjoy having this. She's not too big on vacuuming, and I would just do it myself, but she claims I don't get the floor clean enough. Who am I to argue? This is definitely going to be a cool gadget, though. I'm excited to see if it works. Supposedly it uses little sensors that go in doorways to know which room it's in. After it's finished cleaning one room, it automatically goes to the next. When it's low on battery, or done cleaning, it uses the doorway sensors to navigate back to a charging dock. It stops suction when going over rug tassles, it changes height when transition from carpet to hard flooring, it even slows down to clean really dirty spots. I'll let you know how it goes.

At last....

Some of you may have noticed that it has been quite a while since I contributed any nuggets of wit or wisdom to our blog. But as you may remember, I have been reading the Harry Potter series; and I admit that this venture did take over my life for a brief while. However, I am happy (and sad) to say that I have finished the last of the seven books and will now be able to blog more frequently.

I will not go into any details of the last Harry Potter book, as Sam has made it clear this is a subject I am NOT at liberty to discuss. I will, though, recommend the series highly to anyone looking for a good read and express my thanks to John Mark for getting me started.

Onto new news.... I (we) got an iPod!! This is a big deal for me, as I usually try to avoid new technology except on a 'need to have' basis. But I really like it!! It makes washing the dishes, folding clothes, ironing, etc. much more enjoyable. And it's certainly much easier to persuade myself to walk around the block for a little exercise when I know my friend Eminem will come with me. Which leads me to my next little tidbit....

As I've been out in the neighborhood more lately, I've had the opportunity to meet some more of our neighbors. In the middle of my walk the other day, a lady waved me down and I stopped to chat. We had quite a lengthy conversation in which she imparted to me her "wisdom." Not only did she drone on until it was much to dark for me to finish my walk, but she also attempted give me financial, spiritual, and political advice.

Lessons from my neighbor:

1. All you need is a roof over your head, food to eat, someone who loves you, and whatever spiritual entity you prefer. (Sound enough advice, I guess.)

2. Why buy a house when you can rent? This way, you don't have to do any home maintenance yourself. (The economist in me was begging to mention the multitude of holes in this belief, including the little problem of EQUITY; but, as I said, it was getting dark.)

3. Spend all your money while you can because, when you're old (and I quote) 'If you have it, they take it away; if you don't have it, they take care of you.'

And on that note, I dismissed myself from her lecture, bewildered and wanting to return home to my Republican (with a capital 'R') husband. We concluded that her little corner of the neighborhood must not be in the same country the Hardin's share with Dave Ramsey.