Mutnomah Falls and Gifts from my Mother

Our good friends, Dan and Joan, braved the snow and came up from California to stay with us for a few days. We'd had grand plans of all the places we wanted to take them, but with many roads still being impassable, our plans have been drastically altered. Fortunately it's warmed up a bit in the last 24 hours, so that coupled with their 4 wheel drive vehicle allowed us to make the trip to the nearby waterfalls.

So here, for your viewing pleasure:

Horsetail Falls


Multnomah Falls

With a drop of 620 feet, Mutnomah falls is the second highest year-round waterfall in the US.


Dan, Cody and Mike (smiling!)

Right before I snapped this shot, Cody leaned over to hubby and said: "You know she's going to put this on the blog...)



And remember I said that there were more gifts to come from my mother? This was Cody's gift. Pretty cool, eh? It weighs a bloody ton, but he's completely in love with it.

Know what I got? A Rubik's Cube. Hey Stace - want to trade for that toilet seat you got from your hubby? That I could use...

Update, Christmas, and a Sasquatch Sighting

First, an update: After being without any water on Tuesday (do you know how much snow you have to melt to get a pan of water?? A LOT!) Mike finished up early at the coast and was home by 3:00 on Wednesday. Can I just say how happy I am that I am married to a handy man? 'Cause I would hate to see what the plumbers bill would be for a Christmas Eve house call.


On to Christmas festivities!

Cody got a video game from Santa (yes, he still believes ;) and, blissfully, let us sleep in while he was glued to the XBox.

Look - he smiles. Willingly. His father could learn a thing or two from him!



Cody loves wearing shirts with sayings on them - preferably having to do with a favorite TV show, character, etc. One of his favorite comics is Eddie Izzard, and I found one of his favorite sayings on a t-shirt at Cafe Press.



Mike's first gift for me was what I thought was a DVD. Then I opened it and found this:



Oh, joy. I looked at Mike with what I'm sure was a face that said: "You actually bought me this?" I then handed it to Cody and said: "Look. Your dad got you a video game." Mike insisted that I take it back and open it.

Inside I found a cd-rom for Scrabble, which was one of the only things I asked for. Guess he's a good gift giver after all ;)



And I know you all are just *dying* to know what my mom got me for Christmas ;) She left some gifts for us in her storage unit that I still have to go and pick up (oooh - more blog fodder), but she sent a package last week as well. I got a book on how to be a successful business person. Gee, that should come in handy. Now all I need is a business. Hubby got a free promo dvd on "How to cure Psoriasis forever!". Of course, he'd still have to buy the product that they're selling if he actually wants to be cured. Oh, and I got a record. As in album. I guess I should never have gotten rid of that turntable back in 6th grade.

During the midst of all of the unwrapping, I tried to take some pix of hubby (aka Sasquatch), foolishly thinking that in the spirit of the season he might be a little more cooperative. Silly me.

Agh - not quick enough with the camera.

Now with the arms thrown up in defense.

Using the blanket as a shield.

Uh oh. I know that look all too well. That's his "I could kill you and they'd never find the body" look. Time to put the camera away...

And all I wanted was a smile. See? It's easy.

Hope you all had a great holiday!

As if the snow wasn't bad enough...

we had a pipe burst in the garage this afternoon. I went into the laundry room to start some laundry and heard a really weird noise coming from the garage. I opened the door and was met with a lovely geyser that was spewing water all over the place.



Which was when I realized that I did not know where the shut off valve was.

That thought was immediately followed by the realization that hubby is out of town. Until late tomorrow afternoon.

He knows where the shut-off valve is.

But guess what?? With all of the snow and ice, cell reception is shite. Which means I couldn't get ahold of him to ask him where it was.

So after calling the office in the hopes that they could somehow get him through the 2-way, I slogged my soaking wet self through the snow to the neighbors house in the hopes that he had some idea as to where the shut-off valve was.

Fast forward 15 minutes later, and there's 2 neighbors trying to help me find the shut off valve in the garage, and another neighbor trying to dig down to the main shut-off at the street. We finally got it shut off after finding that there was not one, but TWO leaks in the pipes, which required that we turn off the water to the house, too.

So here we are. Waterless. With houseguests coming in a few short days and no way to clean anything.

And did I mention? We're supposed to get another 5 inches of snow tomorrow.

Ugh. I need a drink...

It's (s)no(w) fun anymore...

The average yearly snowfall for this area is 2" - 4". So when there's 12" that falls - the city comes to a standstill. Throw in a little ice storm for good measure and you have weather that even the mailmen won't come out in. Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow my ass! And couple all of that snow with 30 - 50 mph wind gusts and you have monster snow drifts.

Kimberly - don't even start with the heat wave you're having unless you want me to come there with a cooler full of snowballs to pelt you with ;)


Here's the back of the house. See that little red thing sticking up out of the snow? That's a tipped over Radio Flyer wagon ON TOP OF the deck. Which is at least a foot higher than the ground under those windows.

The pond. Hmm, we may no longer have a fish population problem.

Don't my guys look like they're having fun?? Hubby (or "Sasquatch" as Emma has so brilliantly dubbed him, what with his being camera shy and all ;) spent hours shoveling today. Not once, but twice. Because it snowed again after the first shoveling. And they're actually trying to send him to to the coast tomorrow to cover a 2 day job that just can't wait. And he needs to be able to get his truck out of the driveway. What fun.

So how's the weather where you live? Snow? Ice? Sunshine?

And the winner is...

The giveaway is officially over, and I'd like to thank everybody who participated!


This was the pile of names that I ended up with:



Why write them all down on little slips of paper, instead of doing the random generator thingy that any sane blogger would use?? 'Cause I didn't think I had that many entries. Until I started writing them all down. Turns out I had more than I thought. And I came to realize something. I AM NOW A COMMENT WHORE! That's right, I said it! I loved all the comments. Oh, sure, some will probably never set a cyber foot in my little blog again, but that's OK. I had so much fun with this giveaway that I'm already dreaming about my next one. That's right, loyal readers - don't fret if you didn't win this round. There will be more giveaways to come...











AND NOW FOR THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR....



















OOOOOH - YOU CAN FEEL THE EXCITEMENT IN THE AIR....




















WAIT FOR IT - WAIT FOR IT.....






















AND THE WINNER IS:





Congratulations Emma! OK, so, I'll need your e-mail address in order to get your gift card to you. You can e-mail me at cxfiles@aol.com


Have a great weekend!

A Very Star Wars Christmas!

For those of you who read my "Really Bad Gifts" post, you'll know why I generally dread gifts from my mom. But she has, on occasion, come through - generally with Star Wars related gifts. The last time was when the original trilogy first came out on video, way back in 1991 (yes, I really did have to go that far back for a good gift from her ;)

Anyway, once I opened them that Christmas morning I was forced (snort) to watch all three. And so a tradition was born. On every Christmas day since, we (as in "me" and whomever else happens to be with me) have watch one of the three original movies. Weird - you say? Not for a sci-fi geek like myself. Remember: I still have all of my action figures, lunch boxes, pencils, buttons, t-shirts, calendars and other paraphernalia. I was Princess Leia for 7 YEARS IN A ROW at Halloween, for pete's sake!

OK, had to tell you that story so that you'd understand why I had to attend the following:

The other day I got an email from a friend telling me about a local homeschool/unschool production of "Starcracker" - the Nutcracker with a Star Wars twist. I know, sounds weird, but trust me - it worked! Though it's hard to imagine Darth Vader and Jedi knights on the same stage as the Sugar Plum Faerie, the two stories (and the music) melded quite well. We met some other friends there, and laughed our hineys off watching this thing. One of my favorite parts was the little storm troopers, who's large paper mache helmets reminded be of Dark Helmet from Spaceballs.






May you all have a Very Star Wars Christmas!



Don't forget - every comment you make is an entry into my December giveaway for a $20 Amazon.com giftcard. Rules are here and here. Good luck!

Opperation Santa Clause

Every year one of the county fire departments has a small parade where they gather canned goods and toys along the route to give to needy families in the area. For the last 5 years our homeschool group has gathered to participate, and we've gone the two years we've been up here. One thing that sets our group apart is that we bring coffee, hot cocoa, and cookies for the volunteers who come in the parade to gather the donations. We're about halfway on the route, so by the time they get to us they're pretty cold.

Here's Jana, putting out the goodies.

Here's James, stirring the vat of hot cocoa.

Cody and Jarren

Me in my very cunning hat ;)

Mike, again fighting having his pix taken.

And a Merry Christmas to you, too!

Here they come!

It's Santa Clause!

What I didn't get pictures of (but wish I had) were Mike and James with their marshmallow shooters. They have a thing for spitwads, and shortly before leaving the house Mike had fashioned marshmallow shooters out of PVC pipe. So not only did Jana and I (and the kids) get pelted with mini-marshmallows, but it turns out that James had brought a pocket full of peanuts to throw at us (another of our traditions ;) Turns out, the peanuts worked equally well in the shooters. Oh, joy!

Don't forget - every comment you make is an entry into my December giveaway for a $20 Amazon.com giftcard. Rules are here and here. Good luck!

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Last year was our first winter in Oregon in 10 years. We'd spent the previous decade living in the relatively snow-free southwest, and Cody couldn't wait to see the white stuff! He was determined to have snow on Christmas day last year - in fact, it's what he asked for from Santa. Everyone told him not to get his hopes up, as there hadn't been any that early in about 70 years. Guess what? It snowed on Christmas.

If it was early last year, you can imagine how it threw the weatherpeople when we got a massive storm on Sunday that dropped 4 in. of the stuff and closed down tons of roads and even a few freeways.

Here's a shot out our front door early in the day:

The pond which, even though it was only 20 degrees out, didn't freeze over.

I made (yes, made) Mike grab the tripod so that we could take some family shots outside. Look! He's actually smiling! And I didn't have to duct tape his arms to his sides or threaten bodily harm ;)

Mike and I ventured out in the afternoon after it had cleared as we needed some things from the store. Which normally wouldn't be a problem. Except that we live in a very hilly town. And liked to never have gotten home. The store is only about 3 miles from our house and when we finished we couldn't get back up the hill. We ended up having to drive 100 streets in the opposite direction so that we could get to a street where we could make a gradual incline, as opposed to trying to get up a big hill. It took us 45 minutes to get home.

According to the news last night, today is the ONLY day this week that it will be good to hit the roads. We have another storm rolling in tonight that's supposed to dump another 6" - 10" of snow. Which is unheard of for here. Oh, and did I mention we have friends from California who are supposed to be coming up next week to stay with us? That's assuming they can even get here. And if they do make it, they may very well be snowed in with us.

Donner, party of 5.


Don't forget - every comment you make is an entry into my December giveaway for a $20 Amazon.com giftcard. Rules are here and here. Good luck!

Finding the Perfect Tree

One of the wonderful things about living in Oregon is all of the trees. Last week I read that the majority of all Christmas trees sold in the US come from our state. Years ago we used to get a permit and drive up in the mountains to cut down our own. Funny how a relatively "small" tree in the forest would grow to gargantuan proportions once you got it home to 8 ft. ceilings ;) Now, we stick to the cut-your-own Christmas tree farms. My favorite: Noble Firs.


Look at all of the trees waiting for a home ;)

Here's Cody, staking out "his" tree.

Hauling out the goods.



Mike and I do the lights, Cody puts on the ornaments, and Mike and Cody do the tinsel.



Ta-Da!


And now, just to mortify my husband (and amuse myself) here are more pictures of him. Protesting having his pix taken. Again.

So here's how it usually goes: I whip out the camera and try to snap a shot. Using his cat-like reflexes, he blocks his face.



Shot number 2, and this time Cody is trying to wrangle Mike's arms so that I can get a shot of his face. I swear, you'd think he was stalked by paparazzi in a past life!

Ooops, how'd this shot of his butt get in there? *giggle*



Finally, all of his features are exposed, though there's still no smile.



Ta-Da!

Don't forget - every comment you make is an entry into my December giveaway for a $20 Amazon.com giftcard. Rules are here and here. Good luck!

Really Bad Gifts

I know, "It's the thought that counts" - right? Well, sometimes. Other times it would just be better not to get anything.

I feel I should mention that I don't think I'm a greedy person. I'm not one of those women who asks for diamonds, cars, or even fancy dinners. Seriously, a gift card to a book store would make me absolutely giddy. But I think that there are GOOD gift givers and absolutely BAD gift givers. And the bad ones should be banned from stores. Especially at Christmastime.

Nearly all of the very bad gifts I've ever received have been from my mother. I know, sad, isn't it? The one person who should know me best (and I'm her only child, so it's not like she can use the excuse of having to remember the likes/dislikes of a herd of kids). Her side of the family is notorious for giving bad gifts.

My mother has turned this into an art form.

Which was why last year I thought I'd help my mom out by giving her a few suggestions - for family gifts, no less. One stop shopping. The one thing we really wanted was a membership to the Science museum. She thought that was a horrible idea. Said she had the perfect gifts in mind. Um, yeah.

She gave me a TON of gifts. Well, at least 30. Which looked very impressive under the tree. Until I opened them. And found that nearly all were free samples that she'd received. Imagine your mother wrapping up the free shampoo that she got at her last motel stay, and you pretty much have the picture.

Then there were the Dollar Store Troll doll earrings. Because I liked Troll dolls. In the third grade.



Yep - soooo much better than the museum membership *snort*

How about the year that she gave me a black porcelain doll - because she collects them.

Or 3 years ago when she wrangled my father (whom she's been divorced from for 35 years, and who has ALWAYS given me great gifts) into giving me a Barbie doll, convincing him that I collected them. Which I did. In gradeschool.

Or the year when she got me not only perfumed body powder, but also perfumed lotion. The same perfume that she's worn since the 60's. The same perfume that used to gag me as a child. The same perfume that as a child I begged and pleaded with her not to wear (see the previous sentence on gagging). Oh, did I mention that I NEVER wear perfume??

Do y'all see why I try to steer clear of my family during holidays??

So, your turn. Any bad gifts? C'mon. I can't be the only one, can I??

Christmas Meme Fun!

OK, I snagged this meme from Stace, who has no idea what rules are supposed to applied. Which means *I* have no idea which rules apply. Can I make up my own? OK, everyone who reads this (and I *know* who you are!) must "Ho!Ho!Ho!" like Santa the next time they answer the phone ;)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both. Because sometimes I'm just too lazy to wrap ;)

2. Real tree or Artificial? Real. Otherwise, what's the point?

3. When do you put up the tree? Typically we get it the weekend after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? Before New Years.

5. Do you like eggnog? Yep! And I'm the only one in the house who likes it, so I don't have to share. Which makes it even better!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My Millennium Falcon. Which I still have.



7. Hardest person to buy for? Hubby, because he usually buys what he wants right before Christmas. He's also one of those annoying people who can pick up a wrapped gift and know what's in it. It's amazing I've let him live this long.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Cody, hands down.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? No. We used to, but Cody kept running off with the baby Jesus, using the Wise Men in battles with his army men and taking Mary hostage. Boys.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail...when I actually remember to send them. Which is about every 3 years.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I can only pick one? There have been so many. I actually wrote a post all about bad gifts, so stay tuned.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? We have an annual list: Home Alone, A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Scrooged, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated) and for Mike and I: The Ref, Love, Actually and Die Hard ;)

13. When do you start shopping for? I used to have it all done by September. Now, I'm lucky to have it done by the week before.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I plead the fifth.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Fudge.

16. Lights on the tree? Yes. My favorites are the bubble lights, that have water in them.

17. Favorite Christmas song? All I Want for Christmas is You. It's been my favorite since I first saw "Love, Actually".

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Home. And we do our big meal on Christmas Eve so that we can hang out in our jammies and watch movies on Christmas day.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have both, but for the last couple of years it's been this Santa.

21. Open presents on Christmas Eve or morning? In the morning, but Cody always has several smaller gifts that he gets to open in the days preceding.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Christmas music *before* Thanksgiving. And rude shoppers.

23. Favorite ornament? Most of our ornaments have a story to go with them, so I don't really have one favorite. Oops, I lied. I have a little round plastic one from the 60's that's the last of a set we used while I was growing up. It has a special spot near the top of the tree every year.



24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? I really miss gravy (being a vegetarian and all) so this year I'm trying my hand at gravy made with veggie broth. I do love cooking it all, though!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Lots of laughter!

Happy Holidays!




Don't forget - every comment you make is an entry into my December giveaway for a $20 Amazon.com giftcard. Rules are here and here. Good luck!

Giveaway Plug for a Bloggy Friend

Lori is doing her first ever blog giveaway, and this is nothing but a shameless plug on her behalf ;)

She's giving away: Times Tales, Zone Cleaning For Kids, Bedroom Cleaning For Kids, and Laundry For Kids. Check out the prizes here and leave a comment for her for a chance to win. Good luck!

Eating Around the World - Germany

Today we had our second installment of "Eating Around the World". Kala's daughter Lindsey chose German food for this month and here's what we learned:

1. A healthy love of cabbage and vinegar is needed.

2. An intolerance of pork (Cody) is a serious hindrance.

3. Vegetarians (like me) would likely starve if required to spend any length of time in Germany ;)

Hubby had today off of work, so he tagged along with us. To be honest, he was more after the brats and kraut than good homeschooly conversation ;)

It was a cool little place. And I stress the word "little". There were a few table in the back (our group took up half of the seating) for those eating, and the rest of the space was devoted to a European market.



Mike finally took a breath and I was able to snap of pix of what was left of his beer brat and kraut.



I also snapped a pix of Kala's spicy brat, potato salad and kraut. I could have taken a snap of my lunch, but it was a grilled cheese sandwich (as even their veggie soup of the day had pork in it ;) It was really good, though, on really sour sourdough bread. You know, the kind that makes your mouth pucker. Yummm.



Jana came prepared with trivia questions for the kids, such as: Name some popular dog breeds that originated in Germany. Sure, German Shepherds and Dachshunds are obvious choices, but did you know the Poodle originated there? See - learn something new everyday.

After we finished eating we began to peruse the store shelves, picking up goodies to bring home. Much of what was on the shelves wasn't written in English, so we had to judge the contents by the pictures on the package.



Staying with our current European theme, next month it's on to Spain! I'm hungry already...



Don't forget - every comment you make is an entry into my December giveaway for a $20 Amazon.com giftcard. Rules are here and here. Good luck!

Christmas Party & Pix

Hubby and I attended his company Christmas Party the other night. That's always an interesting experience! There's the underage spouses/girlfriends sneaking beer. Or the ones who feel it is totally appropriate to sit on laps while the boss is standing there. My main form of entertainment at these things is people watching ;)

We did end up having a pretty good time, though. It was "Casino Night" with a craps table and several blackjack tables. Everyone was given $1,000 in play money (and by "play" I mean fake, not real money to "play" with. Dammit.) We had 2 other people give us their funny money, so Mike and I each had $2,000 to start. Which was a good thing, because we suck at gambling. Probably because we don't do it. We went to Vegas a few years ago and spent $60 on gambling. Over the course of 3 days.

Anyway, we bellied up to the craps table and asked one of the other guys where we should put down our money. Because we know NOTHING about craps. After an hour and 25 minutes we were down to less than $500 between the two of us. In the next 5 minutes we were up to $19,000. Too bad it wasn't really money! The top three winners each got a prize (we weren't even close. The top winner had $150,000). That's OK. We had fun and it didn't cost us anything ;)

Since we were all gussied up, I forced (yes, forced) hubby to take some pictures with me. Because we have few pix of the two of us together. Probably has something to do with me being the one always behind the camera.

Here's the first shot - with Mike looking decidedly bored.




Pix #2 - now he has the pouty lip thing going. Work with me man!



Pix #3 - this one's not too bad. Look - the corners of his mouth are even upturned!



Pix #4 - probably the most realistic of the bunch, as this is how we generally look at each other. I know, nauseating, isn't it? At least that's what our kid tells us ;)



So, any Christmas parties in your future? Company or otherwise? Are you the party girl, or do you sit back and people watch?



Don't forget - every comment you make is an entry into my December giveaway for a $20 Amazon.com giftcard. Rules are here and here. Good luck!

Blog Giveaway - Rule #5

Because I completely spaced this rule last night. Even though I'd planned to add it. But it was late. And I'm blonde ;)

Rule #5 - if you post about this giveaway on your blog, you'll get 2 BONUS entries! Of course, you'll have to let me know that you posted (especially if yours is not a blog I stalk). So basically, you'll get 2 entries for posting about it + 1 entry for leaving a comment telling me you posted - so that's 3 ENTRIES right there! Not bad, eh? See? I'm trying to help you win ;D

My First Ever Blog Giveaway!

It is the season of giving, and as such I'm giving everybody a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card. In the event that someone in Britain (ahem, Emma ;) wins, I'll make it an Amazon.uk gift certificate.



Here are the rules:

1. Every comment garners you one entry. But please, no responding to your own comments, or leaving a bunch of one word comments. 'Cause that's cheating, and cheating is wrong ;P

2. The winner will be chosen at random and announced on December 20.

3. Everybody's blog that I follow (listed in the column on the right of my blog) will each get one bonus entry.

4. You have to spend it on something for yourself! Of course I have to point this out because I know there are other mom's out there who are like me and would spend the money on their kids or their hubby. This is just for you.

OK, I think that's it! I will be posting lots and lots of posts between now and then, so not to worry about the wasteland that has been my blog of late. In fact, I already have several posts lined up for this week.

Good luck!

Houston - We Have Internet!

We have been mostly internet-less for the past week, with Comcast coming out not once, not twice, but three times trying to fix things. Of course, when we first discovered the problem (after Thanksgiving) I thought it was a problem with our computer and spent several hours trying to correct the problem (swearing as I went). The next day hubby noticed the repairman at the main neighborhood box and Ta-Da! We had internet again. For a whopping 2 hours. And hubby was on it the whole time. By the time I wrested the computer away from him, the internet was on the fritz. Again. Followed by more swearing on my part. Hopefully there will be no more problems as I have lots of catching up to do!

Hopefully everyone's Thanksgiving went well (I'll be making the rounds later to check on you ;) Ours was FABULOUS! Lots of laughter and great food. The kids played games, the adults played games (Blokus - my new favorite!), and there was lots of general merriment.

Yesterday my friend Jana and I co-hosted a holiday craft party for our homeschooling group. Last year we had 50 (yes, 50!) people. This year we were smart and put a limit on attendees. We had bird seed ornaments, 3 dimensional paper stars, make-your-own wrapping paper, make-your-own holiday stationary, painted ornaments, S'more ornaments, and thumbprint reindeer holiday cards.

Here's Cody making his painted ornament. Jana bought clear class ornaments, which the kids then dribbled acrylic paint into, swirling it around to make cool designs. Cody's is camouflage colors. No big surprise there ;)




Here's Cody making his birdseed ornament. The kids took an ice cream scooper of peanut butter, rolled it in seed, put it into netting and tied it off with a pipe cleaner.


Here's Cody's not-quite-finished thumbprint reindeer card. These turned out really cute and were very easy.



Here's Cody making some wrapping paper for my dad's gift.




And since it is the season of giving, I'm preparing to do my first blog giveaway! Stay tuned for details....