Maryland Thanksgiving 2022

 

Our kiddos only have five cousins and we are spread across multiple states, so when there's a chance to spend time together we try to seize said chance. What better time than Thanksgiving? Our Maryland branch offered to host this year, so the Ohio and Indiana branches did the driving. 

We played games including some amazing Pictionary. Last year the cousins filmed their own movie at ye olde Ohio homestead, so this year they wanted to make another in a different locale. New props, new roles, a willingness to be silly together. Such a neat tradition. These kids are so fun.

                                        

And of course there was far too much food. Lots of the traditional: turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, rolls. Then the specific-to-our-family favorites: Brazil nut dressing, sweet potato casserole, broccoli casserole, many more pies, homemade ice cream (multiple batches, of course). There was a fair amount of joking beforehand regarding, "we could just skip all the sides and have turkey and dessert..." 

Or just dessert.

The adults had reservations to an escape room, my first. We got to do A Pirate's Adventure via The Escape Game which I highly recommend. We had a blast! The amount of detail those folks put into their experience made it incredible. They even allowed us a sneak peek at several of the other rooms. They all look fascinating, so if you're in the area be sure to check them out!

We were sad to leave and do the multiple hour drive home. Why is there never enough time with loved ones? 

Trouble in getting to Solla Sellew

 There's been a road closure on one of the connectors between the town where we live and the town where we do a lot of life, haha. It was closed most of the previous school year and reopened in the spring, right before school was out for the summer. Then this fall it closed again. I've gotten so used to baja-ing around that it took me awhile to figure out the ROAD CLOSED AHEAD sign was missing yesterday. 

I should back up and say that Wednesdays are kind of nutty around here. Once I get up, have quiet time, do yoga, get Thing Three situated and onto the bus, I turn around and repeat with Thing Two who has his homeschooling co-op on Wednesdays. Since he isn't yet driving, I take him the 20 minutes or so away, trying to plot out the route that avoids most of the school traffic. Yesterday I also needed to get gas and groceries, hit Walmart, unload everything, get lunch, and return to the other town for my dentist appointment before picking up the manchild and returning home to figure out dinner. 

I was on my second trip north when I realized the sign was gone. "Hooray!" I thought. "I can go this way to pick him up!" I merrily began driving past my usual turn on which the dentist office resides and kept going for a few minutes before I realized, "waitaminute, I have the dentist FIRST and he doesn't need picked up for two more hours! Dang it!" I found a fun, half-moon driveway, apologized out loud to the people who live there for the crazy woman tearing through their driveway, and recaculated my way to the dentist's office. Sheesh. Order of operations! See? You DO use math concepts in the real world. Who knew? 

All that to say to whomever hears it that you are not alone- the holiday "I've lost my mind somewhere"-itis isn't only happening to you. And to those of you who are lonely or mourning or both, hang in there. Truly. You're loved and needed. Let someone know when you need a hug. Reach out, even though it's hard. If you're not, love on someone who is. Make this a terrific holiday season for yourself and for others. Happy December 1st!

Plugging away at #Inktober

 

Something's amiss

 I have a sassafras tree! He's almost naked, but I was completely surprised at finding one as we don't have any big ones on our property and I haven't the slightest idea where he came from. Then I discovered two more and I'm so excited! Yay for baby trees!

So first of all, I thought the picture below was garlic. In my defense, it was in a text sent to my cell phone so it was small. Upon discovering that it was A) a keychain and B) what it was (read the tag for yourself. I'm not even going to type that), my questions are C) who the heck harvests those and turns them into keychains and D) who buys them!?

Around here, we call this The PaPa broom. It hangs out on the deck, is used to sweep as many leaves as possible off the roof before the unfortunate soul who cleans the gutters gets up the ladder to finish the job, and then sends the drifts of leaves out into the yard, invariably onto the dogs who have not enough sense to move out of the way. Either of them. No joke. 

It's a PaPa broom because PaPa has had tons of these throughout my lifespan. He uses them until there are practically no bristles left, then I get the handles to prop plants up in the garden. When things die off, it looks like I'm growing a patch of brooms!

Dada said his shirt has seen better days. It reminded me of the swimsuit that Muggin tossed at the end of our Mexico trip last December, and the cheap orange purse I'd taken on the same trip that also ended up in the trash can. The orange outer layer of material was peeling off and shedding all over creation. Muggin said she'd had one that did the same thing. What have you ditched on a vacation?

Introducing Adi the Small Suitcase

 

Let me tell you a story about luggage. 

When Dada travels hither and yon to do these training programs about glass, he has to take a specific case of tools, samples, and so forth. Glass being glass, it's not light. Weight requirements vary from airline to airline. An experienced traveler is aware of these facts on some levels, but life can still throw some curveballs, things get forgotten, and reality steps in to make things more interesting.

For instance, a certain traveler began a trip to multiple countries on Airline A, which has a weight requirement of 25 kg per bag. Two bags may be carried. 

Airline B has a 30 kg total weight limit for economy class luggage. 

You begin to see the problem. (Unless you're like me, who had math trauma flashbacks as soon as anything named A is compared to anything named B and numbers are thrown in. Then my brain cowers under a table and sucks its thumb for awhile until things settle down.)

Back to the story. Dada's fracture kit bag alone is 20 kg.

He informed me via text that he's allowed to carry extra weed in the carry-ons, but not in the bag. I clarified that he probably meant more weight and he confirmed I was right. He then told me he'd bought a cheap carry-on bag (orange, above) that he stuffed to the max. His huge personal luggage was practically empty. The funniest part was that there was a high probability that he'd be asked to put his heavy carry-on bag below the plane with regular luggage anyway because of overhead bin space or lack thereof.  Things that make you go hmmm.

So enter Adi the Small Suitcase. Dada's excellent driver in Indonesia bears the name of Mr. Adi. I figured in honor of him keeping Dada safe through what I heard was crazy traffic all week, amidst families of four (including infants in arms) riding  the same scooter together and so forth, we'd christen the cute little suitcase after him. 

Now I'm realizing those are unfortunate initials...

Just some pretty pictures

 This font is called Caveat. I thought I'd try something that looked pretty now that things are starting to look worn out in the great outdoors. These were all taken at the beginning of November. Our neighbor's red tree/bush/shrubbery is so vibrant and lovely, even moreso in real life. I wish sunsets and bright colors came out in photos as true as they do to our eyes, but I guess our manmade stuff just can't quite keep up, hehe!

I  love sunlight!  

Random post

I had a small friend join me the last time I hung laundry outside. I love wooly bears!

Dada and his estate sales. I never know what he's going to come home with, but he was delighted to snag this humungous ladder. I'm eternally grateful that my father didn't have this one lest I'd needed to use it every time my BFF locked herself out of her house, but that is an entirely different blog post, so you'll have to ask about that one sometime.

You've seen pictures of Liam's long hairs. In his defense, these are not all his, but I am thankful that I spotted this hairball in the bathroom I don't use and rescued it from the drain. I shudder to think what would have happened if it had continued on its journey. It was large enough to name, so:

And another estate sale find- ramps to the trailer we rarely use. Maybe now we'll use it more...? *shrug* Not my monkeys, not my circus.

And while I'm pondering, why is it keys and monkeys and not drop the y and add i-e-s? Hmmm. English is weird.

 

Nature wins again!

 Hi! i felt like something different today, so i'm using the permanent marker font. maybe it balances out the not-so-wispy mist that has befallen us, causing the second fog delay-turned-cancellation day of the year.

i love the drips on the ends of the fronds. remember, you can enlarge photos by clicking on them.

Spider web in the gooseberries

if you look really closely you might be able to see the spider webs dangling from the branches. 

we lived twenty minutes north of here for about 8 years, and during sketchy weather we'd always hear about this southern district on a delay or cancelling. i used to laugh, "those kids are never in school!" 

now i laugh that the northern kids are always in school. i'm amazed we made it an entire academic quarter without even a delay this year, but we're making up for it now. having driven in it yesterday, i can assure you that there is an almost physical line where the fog stops. it's amazing. once you hit it, you go, "oh, so that's why we're always delaying and they're always on time!" i dunno if it's the actual school district boundary or what, but it's as if a wizard has planted his staff to declare to the fog, "you shall not pass!" 

i love it, though. even though this fog had a decidedly icy-seeping-into-your-bones feel, it is beautiful to me. i think it was a good call on behalf of the kiddos and poor bus drivers. i have already heard sirens this morning and i'm glad we get to stay in out of the damp. be safe out there and have a positive energy thursday!

#Inktober and real live decor

 

#Inktober keepin’ on

 

October is SO pretty in Ohio

 

A life lesson

 This post is for those of you amongst my Tribe who tend to procrastinate and then get fired up (almost as if someone had lit a fire under one's nevermind) and tackle a bunch of stuff at once, because you are My People and you'll get this.

Last year, I never hung our heavy drapes in the Old Lady Room. I left up the sheer cream and wine colored curtains because I wanted more light in a room that has a wine colored carpet and greenblack walls and no overhead light. What the builders were thinking when they left no light fixture is beyond me. We've since found wine colored lamp shades for two of the table lamps in addition to the halogen lamp stationed in the corner. It's still darker that we'd like most of the time, hence the light-penetrating curtains.

However, this week it got down into the 30s at night and I definitely noticed a chill on the back of my neck and shoulders whilst I was sitting on the couch which abuts the big windows. I figured I should probably rehang the cream colored, insulated drapes. Sometime. Soonish. Probably.

For some reason, I decided that time would be this morning.

Before I had taken my allergy meds.

Before I vacummed up what used to be spider webs and moths and stinkbugs.

Before I remembered that drapes require curtain hooks, I was already behind the couch, but before that I had said, "move, Couch."

Couch merely snickered at me and said, "yo, move this."

So I attempted a shove. Not a big one, just a "get outta my way so I can hang the dang curtains" shove. 

Couch wasn't having it.

I realized, in fact, the slider thingies were not permanently under Couch, something I should have checked first. 

"Fine. I will get behind you and do this anyway."

Lest you think the other members of my household are awful people who could have lent a hand, they were already working on the sink in the loo which has been dripping and dripping faster and is now drippingdrippingdripping alarmingly fast. We've kept a mixing bowl underneath and have been using the water to keep the water bowls full for the dogs and have been watering plants with it but I know we are losing some down the drain. I didn't want to deter that progress.

So there's me, squashed in the less than a foot of space behind Couch and the window wall. I'd had the foresight to dump all the drapes onto Couch, but they were still all folded into each other from two springs ago when I put them away. I'm twisting to reach and detangle the drapes when I realized, "oh *insert pirate-y talk here*, these need the dang hooks!"

I holler to Damon, who is in the room we call the Library as he has the day off school, and he appears in only his underpants, device in hand, as I try to twist further to gesture to what I need and where they are across the room from me. As he retrieves the plastic cup containing all the hooks (yes, we run a classy establishment around here, I know), they dump out and he's trying to simultaneously stuff them back into the cup whilst watching his video. 

Eventually, he hands me the cup (and had fetched me the vacuum, as well) and I start threading those into the drapes, all the while cursing living in a climate where anyone even needs to have summer and winter curtains and the fact that I was smashing the Count Chocula that I'd had after my Cheerios and that I probably should have pooped first.

I'm reminded of something my Mary Alice had shown me years ago; a sign that started off in huge letters cautioning PLAN AHEAd with a tiny, smashed letter d because they ran out of room. Somedays that is my life.

But the drapes are up! Just in time for it to be in the 70s again most of this week. If anyone needs me I'll be washing the sheers.

Looking Halloweeny

You probably can’t tell, but there was a great Cheshire Cat smiling moon this morning amidst the naked trees.

And check out this fool who thought it’d be a good idea to build a web between the ice and water dispensers. Sheesh. I think he was the same guy I saw in the kitchen sink the other day… I guess he is Araña de cocina, haha. Guy gets around!

 

#Inktober out of order

 

Sweet nothings

 Grandmama informed me that today is National Chocolate Cupcake Day, so I had to act accordingly. I even got to use up my homemade chocolate buttercream icing as well as cans of both cream cheese and salted caramel frostings. Win!

More #Inktober