5 Things I love about the Holidays

You've all heard my shpeel on how I feel about Christmas decorations being put up earlier and earlier each year (did the department stores even celebrate Halloween??...we're in trouble when major holidays like that are overlooked.) However, this year, I thought...why fight it? And so I found myself singing Christmas songs before Thanksgiving, and planning what my Christmas tree was going to look like, and making lists of people to get gifts for, and send cards to. I couldn't help it. Was the Christmas spirit taking over me? I really can't say. All I know is, I was super excited to show LiLi everything that goes along with Christmas this year. Because this year, this year! she would notice things besides the awesome metallic wrapping paper that the gifts were wrapped in. Although, metallic wrapping paper is never to be under-valued. And so I've made a list of some of the things that I love about this time of year.

5. Holiday Baking


Last night I made THE best cookies ever! They are White Chocolate Truffle Pecan Cookies. And I will put the recipe on my cooking blog, because I love you all and that's what Christmas is all about...sharing amazing cookie recipes that would make choirs of angels sing. It turned Don and I into cookie Grinches. We really did not want to share them with the neighbors I'd baked them for.


I have been baking like a demon this holiday season, and I made a gingerbread house, for the first time in a long time...I was thirteen the last time I even attempted to put one together, I think. I will post this loverly, and I mean loverly, recipe as well, in case you want to stretch beyond the average kit and graham cracker cottage. I can respect it if you don't. I didn't for about 10 years. To find the recipe you can click here, or on the side link to my cooking blog.

4. Trimming the Tree


I love Christmas trees. What is about a Christmas tree that makes it so magical that after you set one up it instantly feels like Christmas? Our house is still torn apart from construction, our pantry is only partially sheet rocked, and I've painted our once brown and tar speckled sub-flooring a shocking dark blue. But in the corner that I've set the Christmas tree up, our house is a home. Yep, it's Christmas here, too.


3. Christmas crafts

Like I said, I began the Christmas season early this year. At the very beginning of December I started stitching this with a vengeance. Last year Adelei had a generic stocking, so I decided to make her something a little more special. It goes with the two other stockings I made for Don and I. I began this tradition due to Aubrey, who introduced me to the Shepherd's Bush stockings. They are gorgeous, and if you feel like making something heirloom, you really can't go wrong with these. This is just one of the few Christmas projects I've been doing. Making something by hand is like giving someone a little piece of you. I know that that sounds a bit cliche, but it's true! Try it next time you think about stepping into a crowded store.

2. Flowers that bloom in Winter


I honestly believe that there are some things that are set apart just to fight the depressing gray that winter brings. For me, that's why there are so many holidays in winter. Anyway, my sweetie-poo brought these home for me. And I can't tell you how much it lifts my spirits just to have something green in the house! I love these amaryllis bulbs so much. Almost as much as I love...

1. Family
LiLi really has made Christmas twenty bazillion times more fun. I spent hours setting up our Christmas tree. I did it while she was asleep. And when she woke up the next morning, she walked into the living room with her little sleeper on, and disheveled hair. She looked at the tree with her big, sea-blue eyes and said, "Ooooh." That made it all worth it. I love my Bugs. Sometimes before I put her to bed, I'll grab a stuffed animal, a fluffy blanket, turn off all the lights in the house, and turn on some soft Christmas music. Then we'll cuddle as we watch the lights twinkle and dance on the Christmas tree. This was something my parents always did with us. If I can think of one, single, honest-to-goodness, Goodwin family tradition that we observed year-after-year, this would be it. Family, tree, lights, music. Magic. It's Christmas.

Time Honored Tradition

LiLi makes the holidays so much more fun. That's one of the things at the top of my list of 'things to be thankful for'.

Be Witchin'

Last weekend my sisters, mom, & I went to Gardener Village's "Witches' Night Out". It's a magical night of the year where it's cool to wear hats that can poke someone's eye out and fabulous stockings that you secretly want to wear year round. This year I decided to go platinum. Don called me Lady Gaga for days. I'm so much cooler.

Anyway, if you've never been to Witches' Night Out, I strongly suggest you go. Witches' Night Out is for any woman who's ever wished that she could be a witch. I'm pretty sure that applies to all of the female species.

"I found myself wishing that I could use a spell that would make it so that not a speck of dirt stuck to any surface of my bathroom the other day," I tell my sisters and mom in the car on the way over.

"Oh. So you'd use your magic to do good stuff?" Aubrey asks with a wide eyed tone.

"That and the ability to smack people without them seeing me."

If getting into the Halloween spirit isn't enough to make you go, then go for the caramel apples. And they have witchin' coupons. At any rate go so you can dance like a fool with your girls. I can't tell you how many times we've had to pull my mom out of the Congo line. She thinks it's the best thing since sliced bread.

Note: I don't have any pics of mom, because she came late and it was too dark to take pics. I did get one of of her outrageously twinkly/flashing wig, but I don't know if she wants me to share.

Mornings at the Brady's

LiLi is wearing her fuzzy elephant pajamas. The ones where, before I put them on her, and she's sitting on her changing table in only her diaper, I softly rub on her back and she giggles like it's Christmas and arches her back. This morning she's found a wrist rattle, and is having the time of her life with it. Wrist rattle and cheerios. Life can't get any better. She shakes it happily in her high chair. And then brings it so close to her face that she's almost crossed-eyed.

"Can I see it??" I ask as I tenatively pull it away. Then I beat it like a tamborine, and start singing a song for LiLi. Yellow Submarine by the Beatles. All one-and-a-half year olds should should know the Beatles. LiLi apparently loves them, because she's swaying in her chair as I sing the song, and grinning, showing all four of her bottom teeth. I finish the song and hand the make-shift tanborine to her. She madly beats it and sings as well. The girl is a natural, and I instantly like her version of the song better than mine. And quite possibly the Beatles'. Then she picks up her sippy cup full of smoothie as well as a Cheerio and tries to eat and drink at the same time. "I don't think it works that way, but if you can manage it, more power to you!"I laugh. My daughter: singer, tamborine player, and natural multitasker. She's my little sunshine.

Happy morning. Happy Fall.

LiLi Gets a New Coat

My title sounds a little like a children's book, or an episode of "Little House on the Prairie". But I think we can all agree that fall is coming. Which has led me to look for a coat for my little bug. I didn't really find any that I liked. My ambition kicks in at the weirdest times, I blame it on my mother. Because if I wasn't her daughter I wouldn't have had the hairbrained idea of making one. As it is, the coat turned out pretty cute. And just because I thought it would be cute, I added a baret. Adelei is now ready for fall in style. Especially since it is my firm belief that every little girl should have a red coat. She looks like my little Parisan.

About Don

Today is our 5th anniversary. I'm not usually one to get all mushy and tell you how wonderful and perfect my husband is. If I brag about my husband, it's usually in a tongue-and-cheek kind of way. It's just the way I am. Lucky for all of you, I've decided to set aside my reservations for today for one very good reason: Sometimes we assume the people we love know we love them, and so we don't tell them.

In light of that, let me tell you a little about Don: Don is the sort of person who will stop everything he's doing to come pull his wife out of a snowbank. Heck, he'll pull anyone out of a snowbank. It doesn't matter if we're driving home,it's 3 in the morning and it's a blizzard outside, and we still have an hour or two to drive. That's all the more reason to stop and help someone in need. This could quite possibly be a metaphor for his life. I once heard a friend say that when they died, they wanted people at their funeral to say that they were the sort of person who, "returned the shopping cart". Because that simple act says a lot about you: you're considerate, willing to do your part. And more likely than not, it extends to all the aspects of your life. So I think that an epitaph of "he pulls you out of rut" is an even better aspiration.

This characteristic also shows that Don is prepared. Whenever we go on a trip, long or short, our truck is packed with tools, toe straps, cables, etc. Not because Don is a hard core boy scout,living the motto, but because he wants to be able to take anything life has to throw at him. Case and point: last winter we were Christmas tree hunting with my family. Some oversight led us to only bring one chain saw. Our group got split up just when we just happened to find the tree we wanted. Because Don was there, there was no need to sit around and wait for my dad to bring the saw. He calmly pulled out his .45 and shot the dang thing down. It brings a whole new meaning to "Christmas tree hunting". The poor thing died quickly. No suffering.

While Don's the one of the biggest "man's man" I know, beneath that rough n' tough exterior you'll find a huge heart. Dog lover. Nature lover. Music lover. He'll never admit that he watches chic flicks with his wife not because she makes him, but because, I suspect, he kind-of likes them. He called up my sister before mother's day to ask her questions about jewelry making so he could make a necklace for me. One like my mother has that we can't afford. He gave me flowers for a month after LiLi was born just because he knew it made me ridiculously happy. He does laundry and dishes when I'm so sick of doing them I think I'm going to puke if I see another dirty sock. And the day LiLi was born he didn't look at her with the paternal pride I expected him to, instead I looked up and saw him crying, realizing that he was a daddy. Don was actually ready for kids before I was. He probably would have been happy had we had some right away, but the thought scared me silly. So he waited for me.

Thinking about all this, I realize that...dang. I'm lucky. My sentiments echo Elizabeth Barrett Browning,

"I love [him] to the level of everyday's most quiet need, by sun & candlelight. I love [him] with the passion put to use in my old greifs, and with my childhood's faith...
-I love with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life!-and if God choose, I shall but love [him] better after death."

Here's to five, Baby.

Knee-Hugger

I know that I haven't posted it on here, but LiLi is walking!! She's been walking for a while, and I've tried to record it via my crappy compact camera (because it's the only one that will take video) only to be thwarted several times. So I finally gave up. It didn't occur to me to take several quick, consecutive pictures of her tottering towards me until last night. Maybe I'll do that.

But, one of the major perks that comes with LiLi walking, is the fact that she'll grab onto my knees and hug them. It makes my insides melt. I've always wanted a knee-hugger. It almost makes up for the fact that she's no longer a baby and now officially a toddler. Almost.

Labor Day

We have been in the middle of an extreme home makeover. It all started when I was in the bathroom, and looked in my shower and saw the wallpaper was sloughing off, and I decided that I could not live with that another day. Especially when I saw mold growing underneath it. So the next day I rented a wallpaper steamer, and took all the wallpaper off of my walls. It took about a week. There was a lot of wallpaper in my house, every possible surface that could be wallpapered was. I hate wallpaper. I will never do that to someone. Never. That was back in April...I think. The whole thing snowballed from there. Don looked that the situation and decided, why stop there? We hated the layout of our house, and how dark it was anyway.
So we came up with a game plan:

• We were going to knock out all of the walls in the main living area (which included the kitchen, living room, dining room, and computer/entry room).
  
• Install a beam. Because one of the walls we were planning on taking down was a bearing wall.
  
• Reroute plumbing and electrical so we could move the kitchen and make it bigger.
• Knock out chimney, because it's an eye sore. This would mean that we'll have to reroute the furnace underneath.
• Install tile floors and get rid of our scuzzy carpeting.

That's the master plan in a nutshell. Perhaps I'll have to put some floor plans up on here. It's an ambitious plan, but in the end I think that we'll be proud of our house, and feel like it's really ours. Plus, little-by-little it's taking away the cigarette smell left from the previous chain smoking owners. That smell was in everything...the wallpaper, the cabinets, the carpet.

So here are some visuals:

Kitchen

Before:


The opposite wall was covered in cabinets, it was gallery style.



I'm pretty sure a Mary Engelbreit wanna-be inhabited my kitchen before me. Look at this wallpaper. It's not as bad as some of the other stuff. But still enough for me to hate it.


After:
Right now we are living the minimalist lifestyle. No cupboards, no counter space. Only a table, stove, and fridge. It's kind-of like camping...sort-of.

Living Room

Before:


This was our quaint little living room. See what I mean about the wallpaper? Everywhere. And it all had at least a little bit of blue in it. The people were blue freaks. You'd be really scared if I showed you my blue tub, sink, and toilet. Yes I said blue toilet.


Here's the wall that you see the green couch backed up against in the previous picture. Yes it's ugly. That gray mark is Don experimenting with venetian plaster.

After:
And here's how it looks with the wall partially gone.

Here's how it looks with the wall all the way gone, and a beam installed. It's times like these when I'm really glad that I married Don. Not only is he able to calculate what type of beam we needed for our house, he's also able to install it. So top that.

Chimney


This is the fireplace on the other side of the living room. It was in the middle of the house. That would make sense if it were still a real fireplace as it used to be, but someone turned it into an inefficient gas one. Plus we have a wood burning stove in the basement. It's an eyesore to say the least. But I'm happy to say that it's now gone, as of yesterday. :) :) (That deserves a double smiley face icon.)

See? No more fireplace. Just a big hole in the floor and ceiling. And a lot more light. Ahhhhhh. Light.

Here's what our living room looks like now:


It's our make-shift dining room. Soon to be our official, pretty dining room. This picture is pre-chimney removal, as you can see off to the right.

Dining Room

Before:

Alright. Now you can't see it, because Don had already taken it out in this picture, but there was an old door to the right of where he is that never opened because it was screwed shut. It was pretty much worthless because there's a sliding glass door about five feet away from it on the same wall. So we took the door out, obviously, and the huge window that was next to it. And all of those black dots on the wall behind the china hutch? That's tar, there used to be a scary huge mirror that covered the entire wall that made you do a double take every time you walked past it because you thought you saw someone else instead of your reflection. It was really scary at night, when you're all alone. I don't miss it. I much prefer the ugly black spots to it.

After:


This is what it looks like now. Don built a wall and put in a window. Then he finished the plumbing this weekend and installed the sink. This is where the kitchen will be, in an "L" shape. Tons more room. An island...we have big plans for it. It's probably going to be my favorite part.

This was my view when I was washed dishes before: the mint green garage (minus the two-by-fours, the window wasn't framed in).


This is my view now:


Green. Into my backyard. It makes all the difference in the world. I just might like washing dishes now.

So, we'll keep you updated on everything! Right now I'm painting cabinets with a vengeance. And the next step will be working on the electrical and rerouting the sister flue from the furnace that we knocked out yesterday. It's a lot of work. But it's worth it.

A big thank you to Bruce, Dona, Katie & Galen for coming over the last two weekends and slaving away at our house. We had so much fun, and were able to get three times as much work done with your help. You are wonderful!

LiLi Gets a Haircut

Today LiLi and I had a showdown. It was time to do something with her hair. It has become somewhat unruly, too short to really do anything with, but too long not to. So I decided to give her bangs.

It was about as easy as herding cats. And I sounded something like this:

"Hold still, sweetie," I sing in a sugery sweet voice.
"Hold still, Bugs."
"LiLi, hold still. Please."
"LiLi, hold still!"
"LiLi!"
"Child! Hold still!!"
"LiLi! Mommy's not kidding! I have extremely sharp scissors right next to your-LiLi! Stop it!"

I'm happy to say that things were a triumph. She has both eyes, and her hair looks cute. At least I think so. Feel free to give me some positive reinforcement.

I think it makes her look less like a baby and more like a toddler. She's growing so fast. LiLi now likes to:

• say, "Hi, dada", "mama", "baba" (baby), "papa" (puppy), and "uh-oh"
  
• walk when she thinks I'm not looking
• giggles like it's Christmas when anything super fuzzy comes her way
  
• imitate Don and I
  
• holds her sippy cup by herself (Finally. Too bad we skipped the bottle phase, this one would have come sooner.)
• randomly lick things with interesting textures
• dance
• sing

I must have done something right in getting to be her mommy. She's constantly making me laugh with her sweet baby antics.

Beach Bums and Cherry Bums

LiLi and I have spent a lot of time at the pool this summer. She is a water baby and loves splashing. I love dressing her in her swimming suit that has cherries on the bum. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever. A few weekends ago we got together with Aubrey & Co., and Ashley. We'd been talking about going to the pool together for a while, and Madi had finally gotten her cast off. So the timing was perfect. And so was the day.

Backpacking in the Uintas

Don and I went backpacking this last weekend to the Uintas. Grandma Dona watched LiLi for a few days (thank you!) It was the first time I'd been away from LiLi for more than a few hours. I cried.

We camped at Gem Lake. It was close to three other lakes, Joan Lake, D26, and Echo. They were only about a 1/3 to a 1/2 a mile away, except for Echo, which is about an hour away. Joan Lake ended up being my favorite, it was the prettiest, the most swimmer-friendly, and the most pristine.

This was my first backpacking trip. After strapping on our gear, we scrambled straight up a deer trail for about an hour. That's when I realized that Don was slightly crazy, or maybe just completely crazy. He was actually taking it easy on me. Usually he hikes all day there, and all day back, pausing for a day in between to fish.

Don also had a lot to teach me, how to filter water, fish, build a descent fire (it's a lot harder to do it without lighter fluid...give me some slack, we made boondoggles and did skits at Girl's Camp,okay??) He was a very patient teacher,...(bless you, Honey for putting up with your "outdoor challenged" wife). Fishing was fun. I caught a few fish, the dog (that one wasn't my fault), and *cough* myself. I don't really want to talk about it.

Needless to say, we really did have a blast. Between Don's gourmet backpacking meals (i.e. the best fish tacos you've ever had in your life!), swimming, hiking, exploring, photography, and just relaxing, we couldn't have asked for a better weekend. Just me, my honey, ten thousand mosquitoes, and breathtaking views. It was hard to come back, although having a cute baby that I missed like crazy made it a lot easier. Here are some pictures from our trip:


Gem Lake- filled with blooming lily pads, and complete with an amphitheater of sandstone cliffs, it was a peaceful place, and we had the most success fishing there.

I am a chronic "water-gazer".

All of the sandstone was covered in lime green lichen, I loved it. As if the place didn't have enough color.

Lady and I did yoga together (although Don says it looks like I'm praying to her). She's a natural at the "downward/forward facing dog" poses.

Joan Lake- crystal clear water, with just the right temperature for a hot summer's day. It felt like my own personal garden, with terraces of sandstone, and wildflowers everywhere.




Echo Lake- twice as big as Joan's Lake, ideal for canoeing; it's also located near a waterfall, and easy to get to.

The only time I can get Don to smile for the camera is when he's in the great outdoors.