A not so ho hum Monday

Who cares if I didn’t write anything yesterday? Not me. I had better things to do, like fall asleep on the couch after watching Sunday Night Football. NaBloPoMo was a bust. At least to me. It was difficult to write, or at least think of something to write about. Posting just a picture seemed pretty lame to me. So when I woke up at 12:45 this morning I really could have cared less that I missed writing yesterday.

I had to make the long 60 mile drive to McKinney this morning to install a few parts on a machine that were ordered before Thanksgiving and after finishing up I did a search for “yarn” in google maps on my phone. Low and behold Yarn Again popped up. It showed to be less than a mile from where I was, so I figured I’d drive by. It was located across from the county courthouse. I parked and went looking for the address. 208 E Louisiana St. The sign read Antique House. I guess Google wasn’t up to date or something. I figured I go on in since I was there. Lots of cool things, some I’d consider ‘junk’ if it were in my garage. Though, there were some nifty pieces of furniture, old Christmas items, and even a hand crank meat grinder. Upstairs was mostly just a wrap around with a big hole looking down. There were three rooms at the rear of the second floor. I guess Google was right, because posted above the last one was the sign I was looking for. Yarn Again. Inside were various selections of baby alpaca, merino, and hand painted cotton yarns. Nothing really suited my fancy. There were some patterns for knit socks and a scarf. All in all a good find. I had a photo but my phone doesn’t want to upload it for some reason.

We won in volleyball tonight. We lost in volleyball tonight.
No, that is not a mistake. We did both. Our match at 8:30 tonight went to 3 games and we came though on top. We then turned around and played at 9:30. That game didn’t do so well, not even needing the tie breaker. We pulled a “Cowboys Can’t Pull Though in December” moment and lost against yet another team we defeated in the regular season. I can’t say we didn’t play bad, but we didn’t play well either. See you in February.

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Zoe says, “Hello.” Look at all those beautiful teeth. They are still coming in.

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Here is the skinned up knee she got after falling in the drive way over the weekend.

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Zoe says, “Leave my ouchy alone. It still hurts.”

Three

The extended weekend is almost over and it will be sorely missed. Another Thanksgiving has come and gone and its time again to prepare for Christmas. Yesterday I climbed up on the roof and hung the custom red and white LED lights, and some lights around the doorway. By custom, I mean I counted out 8 red lights and removed two of them and added two white lights. I did this our first Christmas in the house and I’m glad I don’t have to do it again. Stephanie decorated the inside of the house with her little village and garland and other novelties.

Today was mostly spent at her parents house hanging out with her Aunt and Cousin before they went home to Georgia. We were then able to let my mom and dad watch Zoe for a few hours so we could go to the movie theater and watch “The Blind Side.” I was impressed with it. I went into it thinking it was a chick flick and left glad that I went to see it. I didn’t even know it was based on a true story.

Three. Three is the number of days that have come and gone on this holiday weekend and is also the number of days left in the month of November. Where did the year go?

Sunny Friday

It’s not Black Friday for me at all. Maybe for my wife. She, along with both our moms and her Aunt, are out shopping. I know that she left sometime around 4:30 this morning. So, I’m hanging out with Zoe. She’s already been on the swing and slid down the slide 100 bazillion times. She loves the slide. Later today I gotta hang Christmas lights and then we are having everyone over for dinner again. Leftovers.

I’m thankful

I’m thankful for my wife who is always there for me when I need her.
I’m thankful for my baby girl, Zoe, who is that little ray of sunshine.
I’m thankful for my job.
I’m thankful for the roof over my head and the shoes on my feet.
I’m thankful for the food on the table
I’m thankful

In The Kitchen

Lots of things were happening in the kitchen this evening in preparation for tomorrows big feast. Pies being baked, veggie platters being made, finger foods rolled and sliced.

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Here is part of the “stuff” that is going inside of the turkey being smoked. I took Phil’s recommendation and used the recipe he gave me. The brine smells delicious. The turkey is in the fridge in the garage soaking. I have to get up in about 4 hours (its 11:30pm now, yikes) and stuff it with the ingredients above and some herbs then put in on the smoker until 4pm or so.

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Here is the inside of the fridge. Its chock full of pies and yummy things for tomorrow. It’s not normally this full.

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Here is Stephanie holding a homemade Apple Pie. She’s proud of it.

The other turkey goes in the oven sometime tomorrow. We also found time to hang attic stairs in the garage tonight with the help of my dad and Stephanie’s dad. They were much easier to do than I had expected.

Busy day tomorrow.
I’ll be sure and take lots of photos and post a big update. Lets go Cowboys!!!

The down hill march.

Yes. Twin Oaks 1 volleyball team is on the downward spiral. We tasted defeat tonight against a team we beat in the regular season. It was very disappointing. The Purple Cobras just brought a better game tonight. We made so many mistakes. So many missed blocks, spikes into the net, touched net calls, and lots of failed communication. All I can say is that we’ve played the best this season over the past 8 or so since I started playing. We can officially say we made it to the second bracket on the winners side. We now have a long task ahead of us as we set foot into the losers bracket. We can’t officially be called the champs, be we have a chance at being 3rd overall. We play at eight o’clock next Monday night, and again at 9:30 if we win.
I never really liked to play the game of volleyball growing up, always afraid to go up for a block, and never being able to serve overhand that well. I still consider myself beginner but I improve each week. My serves become harder and my spikes more controlled. I’m one of two players on the team that wears knee pads, so making a dig is second nature.
There are only two weeks left in the season and then we have about 10 weeks off until the spring season begins. Those ten weeks will allow us to become rusty quick, with the holiday eating season and no gym to freely practice in.

Vvrroooomm.

The weekend is winding done quickly and it didn’t stay long. Friday night we had a rehearsal for a wedding. It was for one of Stephanie’s dad’s friends daughters. It her dads first time to marry anyone and my first time to run sound during one. I sure her was nervous, but I was sorry worried I’d play the wrong song and ruin their wedding. Saturday I got the floors cleaned and played with Zoe for a bit before heading to the wedding. Everything went off without a hitch. Well, expect the fact the bride was 30 minutes late. Wardrobe and hair issues I guessing. Today after church we had lunch at my mom and dads. She made homemade stroganoff. It was delish. I came home and cut down the banana trees in the front yard. Geez, it looks bare up there now. Also trimmed back a few herbs and admired the progress of the garlic in the back. I’ve been slowly looking at the seed places online. Probably hit them hard in December. Oh, I also started another beanie hat tonight. Its almost finished too. Amazing how quickly you can do things with no distractions.
The coming work week is going to be short, though I’m starting my day tomorrow in Plano. I’m smoking a turkey for Thanksgiving. A first. Stephanie is still doing one in the oven, but this year I’m smoking one too. Been looking for a brine or marinade to soak it in. I’m going to use hickory chips to smoke with instead of the usual mesquite.
Off to finish this hat.
How was your weekend?

Saturday

Things to do today:

Vacuum
Steam clean living room and hallway – stupid dogs, pee outside.
Clean office
Bug Bomb the house – stupid fleas, i hate you.
Run sound for a wedding.
Vacuum up after bug bomb.