Gingerbread 2016

I know you've all been sitting on the edge of your seats awaiting this year's installment of gingerbread houses. Because the production is getting larger, it spans over more than one night so I wasn't there for all of these, but thankfully people sent me pictures of all the fun I missed.

Here are Shayla and the boyfriend, Alex. I think I should probably just go ahead and start calling him "newphew".

I'm not sure which I like better, his house.... or his freaking awesome sweater!

Here's Shayla, with her house. I can't see details, but I'm sure it's cute.

 Dear little Teag-a-roo of course was in on the fun.

Macy had quite a full yard of candy. I guess that's what happens when we don't use the standard size boards for the houses. Ya get a big gingerbread yard, you fill it with candy!

I had WAY too much fun doing my house this year. It being my first year as a crazy cat lady, I had to make a kitty house.

I would say "cat house" but that means something different..
Please stop and notice that the "bushes" on the front and sides of the house make little kitty paws.

Valeri got very creative on her house this year! Love the ribbon on the roof!

Dal had fun too. I love the kids' creativity.

Sadie made hers for a teacher who love the U.

He hates BYU so she made sure the doormat that the ginger people would wipe their feet on was a BYU rug. haha!

 Mom's always looks great. Full of candies and so cute!

Kim, is of course, perfect.

Michelle invited the minions to the party. I wonder if they're related to Santa's elves...?

 Shea always goes for a minimalist vibe, but somehow it still always looks nice.

Kim even took a weekend and took stuff to our Caldwell kiddos.

I'm not sure if DJ decorated, or just ate frosting, but either way it's fun.

Looks like ODB had a pretty good time too.

My guess is this is JaNeil's.

I have the cutest little brother in the world!

It's always a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of work.

Even baby sister puts herself in the middle of the fray.

Is she adorable? or is she adorable?

That's it for this year. I love this tradition! I'm already looking for ideas for next year...

***

Here's a bonus house for you. My dear sweet Auntie made a gingerbread house too!

Everyone's a comedian.

That one November Post

Here we are again in the final thoes of the month and I'm scrambling to post something. These are pictures I pulled off my phone.

For my birthday my cousin gave me a game called beanboozled. It's with jelly belly's that are either really good- or really gross. I mean, Really. Gross. It gives you beans that look alike. Are you eating Tootie Fruity? or is it Dirty Socks? Coconut or spoiled milk? Peach or Dead fish?

I made my nieces Shayla and Macy play with me. Also joining us were Shayla's boyfriend Alex and my nephew Dallin. I'll just let you peruse the pictures to decide if they were eating good beans or gross beans.

I think nephew got a decent one.

I was brave and tried a couple too. I got Grass Clippings (actually not that bad) and then I took my life into my hands and tried a white one... coconut! whew! Everyone I've talked to about this game has told me how horrible the spoiled milk is. I was safe!

Most of the time Alex either got good ones- or he had a good poker face about the bad ones. Not Dead Fish though, that one made him gag.

Macy got a few gross ones- but finally she got a good one!

Rotten Egg nearly killed Shayla.

Also on my phone are numerous pictures of my kitties. Why? because they're freakin adorable and they wont be little for very long. They stink and they are total pains in the butt- but oh my gosh they're adorable. Nessa just passed out in my lap one day. Just so sweet.

They were not super helpful as I put up my tree.

When I sit them down to take pictures, this is usually the kind of picture that I'm aiming for.

 

But this is usually what I get. It's hard to get them both to sit still at the same time.

The other day I was trying to help my niece Sadie edit her college entrance essays. The girls wanted to help too. I'm not raising kittens, I'm raising octopi! They are so wiggly and all over the place. As soon as I sit down with a device, they are in my face, on the keyboard and generally being a nuisance.

The most interesting thing on my phone right now is the picture of this letter. It is a letter I wrote to myself in 1998. I spent a couple of years collecting special Christmas ornaments and I guess 1997 was the year I finally put that tree up. When I put the tree away I wrote a letter to myself, I guess knowing I wouldn't use those ornaments again for a while. This year I pulled them out of my parent's basement and put that tree up. I completely forgot about the letter. 

In case you can't read my 20 year old chicken scratch, it says:

            Jan 5, 1998

So Heather-

You finally moved out? Wow- either that or [you're] dead and people are going through your stuff . Pretty boring huh?

So since I'll just just assume you're not dead- Why did you move out? You're not married yet are you? Nah- [probably] not. What happened? Did you finally get sick of being home? or did they kick you out? What's going on in your life? Right now you're still at good ol' Fred Meyer. Although you did just put in an application to Idaho Central Credit Union. Did you get it? I sure hope so! Well, gotta finish unpacking so I'll let you go!

Remember who you are!

Love, Yourself.

Huh... so was I psychic? Or is it self-fulfilling prophecy? I don't know. I just know I'm a nut. I wonder if I have any other random letters to myself floating around out there...? huh...

By the way, I did not get the job at ICCU. Probably a good thing.

Election Day

I don't know what happened to October- it went by in a blur. I've been meaning since September to make sure I was registered to vote- and to mail my vote in so I wouldn't have to stand in line. Well, today sneaked up on me like a thief in the night. I missed the deadline to register online- truthfully, I thought I was already registered so I wasn't in that big of a hurry. 

Long story short- I dropped the ball on being preemptive with voting. I only had to work the one job today, that was lucky. As soon as I got off work I went to city hall. I had originally planned on going to another location (Utah is weird, you can vote anywhere within your county, you don't have assigned poll locations) but I had a hunch I was might not be registered so I went to city hall just in case there were issues. There were issues.

I stood in line maybe 20 minutes when I heard a worker say the line was at least an hour and 45 minutes long. Oi! I took a chance and left my place in line to ask about registration. I was not registered. She gave me the paperwork I needed to fill out and some suggestions of places to go with shorter lines. The one I originally planned on was at the top of the list! 

I took the paperwork and headed over there. It was a church.I got there and the line was livable. It was a beautiful day so I didn't mind standing outside. I was also standing next to a super handsome guy- but he didn't give me the time of day- figures. I talked to the other people around me though. We talked about getting a singalong going, but I chickened out.

So I got up to the front of the line, handed the guy my registration form- which was good that I already had it filled out because he had a line of 4 other people who were filling theirs out- so I jumped to the front of that line. 

It wasn't quite so cut and dry though. He couldn't find my address. Ummm... it's there. I promise. It's on my ID- the gas and electric companies seem to find me just fine. He had to call the help desk and even when they finally picked up- THEY couldn't find me either. My address doesn't exist, apparently. 

While I was standing there some bored little girls took the last of the I Voted stickers. Rotten little kids who weren't even 18 and couldn't vote! ugh! Everyone was a little put out that they didn't get their stickers. Seriously. People would ask for their sticker and be super annoyed when they were told no.

Finally, somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes later, two workers changing jobs,  the whole line that was behind me was nearly gone, all the people I'd been talking to had registered, voted and bailed.. Finally they were able to figure out my address. I guess what he needed was to see which precinct I belonged to and no one could figure it out.

I'd had to wait long enough that someone had had time to go to another polling location and get more stickers. They only brought back like, 15, but I got one! They asked if I wanted a sticker and I said, "Heck yes, I do! I waited a LONG time for that sticker!

I got to vote. I'm so happy I did! And it was a lesson to me to get my crap together and do it earlier next time. 

As per tradition on Election Day, I watched Disney's One and Only Genuine, Original Family Band. And as always, the speech that Buddy Ebson makes at the end stands out- especially in this somewhat traumatizing Presidential race.

"Apparently the next President of the United States has been chosen and the future... has been settled. And nothing we can do here now is going to change things one iota.  I know some of you have been bitterly disappointed.  I want to pass along to you something that was told me many years ago by a man whom I have respected and admired more than any man I have ever met. A man who never wavered in his conviction that we here together can build the greatest united country in the whole bloomin' world if you'll just remember one thing. 'There's a time to stand up and fight for what you believe in and there is a time to join hands and work together or all the fighting doesn't mean a thing.'"

I truly believe that. I'm terrified to watch the returns. I dread either major party candidate as president, but come what may, God- not the president- is in charge and we will just have to continue working to make this country a blessed and choice land.

If nothing else, I earned the right to complain. Hooray for voting!

Crazy Cat Lady

A week or so ago my friend Wendy posted a picture Facebook- saying that she had a kitten that needed a home. I responded to it that she shouldn't tempt me so. She IMed me the next day saying that she also had another kitten- one that had an injury who also needed a home.

They are twins- well, they were triplets but their other sister was eaten by an owl. The runt was rejected by her mother and attacked- hence the injury. Wendy and her family nursed her back to health- but she is still much smaller than her sister. I instantly fell in love and said I wanted them. If I'm going to take one- and be gone so much working two jobs- then I wanted her to have a friend to play with and since they're sisters they already get on.

A week or so later after they'd been taken in for shots and to be fixed, my family picked them up and brought them to me.  I cried a little when I met them. I am so excited to have them in my home! It's been a long time since I've had a kitty. I find that I grow too attached and it's hard when I lose them. Plus the work- and expense... not to mention the smell... anyway, I got over all my qualms and decided it was time to come home to something that would love me.

My family is so silly. They threw me a baby kitten shower! hahaha! that's ok, It's the only kind of shower I'll ever get so I'll take it. There were even presents!

As I sit here typing this they're fighting on the floor... I hope it's all in fun... I've never had two kittens at once... I guess it's a learning period for all of us.

The names I have decided on are Elphaba (Elfie) and Nessa Rose. 

This is Elfie. She's the big sister. She's a good girl, but a little big wicked. She gets into trouble a lot. A lot. But she's so darn adorable.

 Little sister is Nessa Rose- she has a gimpy leg and hard time walking- but she just wants to be loved. She loves to cuddle and I'm gonna need to make sure her sister lets her get something to eat every once in a while. The Dr said she may grow out of her injury. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

This is what you do when you are too lazy to get out of bed to eat (Nessa)

And like a typical child, it's more fun to play with the box than the actual toy that came in it (Elfie)

Today- Halloween- I called in sick to both jobs. We had a little bug going around our family this weekend and today it was my turn. So we just sat here and chilled. This is what most of the day looked like:

I think -until they scratch up my couch- we're going to get along just fine.