John's cousin, Katharine, is a maniac on the teacups ride! Out of the many rides we all experienced at Six Flags on Thursday, nothing made us more queasy than the teacups with Katharine. This video is proof of the craziness.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Merry Christmas!
Yesterday Erin's sister, brother-in-law and nephew received the best Christmas present they could ask for: our nephew was taken off of oxygen and is now breathing all by himself! We continue to fervently pray that he will have no other breathing issues. He also was taken off one of his medications that was helping him "remember" to keep breathing, so we think he's now down to only two medications/vitamins that Erin's sister has to give him everyday. Merry Christmas!
These posts don't seem so "adventurous" now that we're not living in a foreign country, but our lives feel full nonetheless. With moving, remodeling the house, Erin's nightmarish job experience, and the premature birth of our nephew the year has been stressful. We guess it's adventurous in it's own unpredictable way.
In other news, it has been close to 80 degrees here in Dallas. Erin thinks it is absolutely ridiculous for it to be this warm less than a week before Christmas. John absolutely loves the warm temperatures and claims it feels like his favorite season outside: spring. Yes, therein lies the problem. It is not spring. It is the time of year for nativities, Christmas trees, caroling, hot chocolate.....and cold weather! Erin is hoping for a cold snap for Christmas. If not, she'll have to make do looking at pictures of Christmases gone by when there was snow and the thermometer dipped down to freezing. (That would really just be the last two years when we lived in Europe.)
The mysterious part of all this is that both of us grew up in the southern United States. Why does John love mild temperatures while Erin continues to believe winter should come with cold, crisp air and snow? She clings to this idea of fall and winter as if she grew up in a place where there were four distinct seasons. Can't anyone agree with her that cold weather lends to more coziness? Fires in the fireplace, hot drinks, fluffy blankets, snuggling with your loved one? In this household she is alone in her sentiments.
Bring on the shorts, T-shirts, barbecues, iced tea and lemonade; it's Christmas in Dallas.
These posts don't seem so "adventurous" now that we're not living in a foreign country, but our lives feel full nonetheless. With moving, remodeling the house, Erin's nightmarish job experience, and the premature birth of our nephew the year has been stressful. We guess it's adventurous in it's own unpredictable way.
In other news, it has been close to 80 degrees here in Dallas. Erin thinks it is absolutely ridiculous for it to be this warm less than a week before Christmas. John absolutely loves the warm temperatures and claims it feels like his favorite season outside: spring. Yes, therein lies the problem. It is not spring. It is the time of year for nativities, Christmas trees, caroling, hot chocolate.....and cold weather! Erin is hoping for a cold snap for Christmas. If not, she'll have to make do looking at pictures of Christmases gone by when there was snow and the thermometer dipped down to freezing. (That would really just be the last two years when we lived in Europe.)
The mysterious part of all this is that both of us grew up in the southern United States. Why does John love mild temperatures while Erin continues to believe winter should come with cold, crisp air and snow? She clings to this idea of fall and winter as if she grew up in a place where there were four distinct seasons. Can't anyone agree with her that cold weather lends to more coziness? Fires in the fireplace, hot drinks, fluffy blankets, snuggling with your loved one? In this household she is alone in her sentiments.
Bring on the shorts, T-shirts, barbecues, iced tea and lemonade; it's Christmas in Dallas.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Vacuuming
We have only one room in our home with carpet now. Erin spent a week painting that room a gold color before we get new carpet at the end of this week. And before painting, we had a couple guys come over to retexture the entire room and patch cracks and holes in the walls. After all this, you can imagine that the current carpet is not all that clean. For those of you who know Erin, we thought we'd share this small breakthrough.
After all the retexturing and painting had been finished, John put the current carpet that we had pulled away from the walls back down in its original position. Erin, of course, thought of vacuuming the carpet last week as she was cleaning the house. Could she really live with dirty, disgusting carpet for a whole week before the new carpet came in? Most of you who know her already know the answer: absolutely not. In a surprising turn of events, Erin decided it was a waste of time to vacuum the carpet that would be gone in a week. So she didn't. Maybe all the unexpected circumstances and stress of this year are forging changes in Erin's anxious, compulsive personality. Maybe.
After all the retexturing and painting had been finished, John put the current carpet that we had pulled away from the walls back down in its original position. Erin, of course, thought of vacuuming the carpet last week as she was cleaning the house. Could she really live with dirty, disgusting carpet for a whole week before the new carpet came in? Most of you who know her already know the answer: absolutely not. In a surprising turn of events, Erin decided it was a waste of time to vacuum the carpet that would be gone in a week. So she didn't. Maybe all the unexpected circumstances and stress of this year are forging changes in Erin's anxious, compulsive personality. Maybe.
What?!? No Christmas?!?
We have fooled the entire neighborhood...and probably you too if you receive a Christmas card from us (assuming the cards do eventually get sent!). The outside of our house is festively decorated for Christmas. We have lights on the roof, the bushes, and the front porch, which we put up on a rather cool day a week or so ago right before the temperatures rose into the 80s making it feel more like April than December. Hopefully with the outside lights glowing no one will ever notice we have no Christmas tree in the window. In fact, if you were to walk into our home there would not be a single trace of Christmas anywhere. Well, except for the piles of Christmas cards waiting to be addressed and stamped.
The reason for no Christmas this year is quite simple: our house is a mess what with all the remodeling. Strangely, the season seems to be lasting longer this year. That's mostly because Thanksgiving was about a week early, but we like to think we are also having more space to enjoy things like other people's Christmas parties, Christmas music, and just sitting and drinking hot cocoa. Besides the lack of decorating, we are also foregoing the endless Christmas shopping because so many of our gifts this year will be unusual (experiences rather than actual presents). Since we have family in town we're not even traveling for the holiday. When people say things like, "I haven't even gotten our Christmas cards bought yet" or "I still have so much shopping to do," Erin tends to respond with "Oh, you still have plenty of time! It's only December 10th!" OK. Now that she thinks about it, that's only 15 days until Christmas. Ignorance is bliss. And we can afford to be ignorant of the passage of time this season since we have no pressing holiday items on our to-do list.
When it first looked as if Christmas wouldn't really happen in our home, Erin was pretty stressed and disappointed. Now that the idea has taken hold, she is a little relieved. This year has been stressful enough. We can easily go to the homes of relatives or friends to experience the Christmas environment. It is a pleasant change to be able to celebrate the meaning of this holiday (Jesus' birth) in quieter more subtle ways. We tend to like simplicity, so perhaps this year's experience will lead to more toned-down celebrating in future years.
So, enjoy your Christmas cards when they get there, and feel free to drive by the house to take in the light display, just don't expect a winter wonderland if you intend to visit the inside of our home.
The reason for no Christmas this year is quite simple: our house is a mess what with all the remodeling. Strangely, the season seems to be lasting longer this year. That's mostly because Thanksgiving was about a week early, but we like to think we are also having more space to enjoy things like other people's Christmas parties, Christmas music, and just sitting and drinking hot cocoa. Besides the lack of decorating, we are also foregoing the endless Christmas shopping because so many of our gifts this year will be unusual (experiences rather than actual presents). Since we have family in town we're not even traveling for the holiday. When people say things like, "I haven't even gotten our Christmas cards bought yet" or "I still have so much shopping to do," Erin tends to respond with "Oh, you still have plenty of time! It's only December 10th!" OK. Now that she thinks about it, that's only 15 days until Christmas. Ignorance is bliss. And we can afford to be ignorant of the passage of time this season since we have no pressing holiday items on our to-do list.
When it first looked as if Christmas wouldn't really happen in our home, Erin was pretty stressed and disappointed. Now that the idea has taken hold, she is a little relieved. This year has been stressful enough. We can easily go to the homes of relatives or friends to experience the Christmas environment. It is a pleasant change to be able to celebrate the meaning of this holiday (Jesus' birth) in quieter more subtle ways. We tend to like simplicity, so perhaps this year's experience will lead to more toned-down celebrating in future years.
So, enjoy your Christmas cards when they get there, and feel free to drive by the house to take in the light display, just don't expect a winter wonderland if you intend to visit the inside of our home.
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