Card game, holiday style

The December issue of Real Simple magazine includes a funny "holiday-card score sheet" that made me laugh. I'll let the magazine sum it up: "When the season's greetings start rolling in, tally up the points for each card you receive and check your holiday karma." (I would've linked to the online version of the quiz, but I couldn't find it on the magazine's Web site.) The point system adds points or subtracts points based on various factors. A few examples:

• A card from anyone who includes a handwritten personal note of more than five sentences: + 5 points
• A card that plays annoying music that you can't turn off: - 4 points
• Newsletter or family photo included in a card: + 2 points
  

I thought it would be funny to play along and see how my card stash stacks up this holiday season, according to this scoring system. So far, here's how things add up:

• Card from the Kansas Humane Society soliciting a donation (+ 0.5 points) that has a printed rather than handwritten signature (- 2 points)
• Card from my aunt & uncle with printed signature (- 2 points)
  

Card karma total: -3.5 points

I must admit that I love getting any type of holiday greeting in the mail (part of the reason why I love my annual Christmas card dinner party), so this little game is just for fun. Wish me luck, and I'll keep you posted!

Blue Sunday

Our bathroom makeover continues, with the addition today of a new framed mirror (goodbye, giant mirror sheet mounted to the wall) and a repainted medicine cabinet. We're hoping we can put everything back together tonight. (You also can see the new chair rail treatment Brian added if you look in the reflection in the mirror in this photo.)

In the meantime, I've been spending much of the afternoon boxing up frames, books, candles and all other items sitting out on furniture throughout our upstairs. The carpet installer comes Friday, and we'll need to devote evenings this week to moving furniture into the garage. Things should be interesting ...

Next week, should things go as planned, our home will not be so hectic. (Insert happy sigh here.)

Blue Friday

Forget all that Black Friday shopping stuff. Today, I went to work and Brian worked at home. Or on the home. Either way, he got some serious work done on our upstairs bathroom.

Our carpet comes in a week, so we're making other small improvements in the meantime. (It's kind of cool that you don't have to be paranoid about keeping the carpet clean. Paint spill? Tile mortar splotch? No problem. The carpet's going to the dump in a week, anyway.)

Brian's big project today was to scrape the peeling paint down to the disgusting pink sponge hearts underneath. When we bought our house, we quickly covered those atrocious things up and swore never to set eyes on them again. At least we kept our vow for five years. But after a coat of primer, we can kiss those hearts goodbye. Again.

Brian also painted an accent wall blue ("Hampton Surf" blue, to be specific) in the bathroom and updated our light fixture. Bye bye, 1990s-style Hollywood globe bulbs.

He's had several canine contractors keeping their eyes on things:

Counting my blessings

Although some days it's easy for me to forget, 2008 has given me much to be thankful for. As I gathered with family today to eat, laugh and, well, eat, here are some of the blessings I was counting:

• A seventh year of a happy marriage.
• A mother who survived a heath scare earlier this year and who is enjoying life to the fullest now.
  
• A new brother-in-law, Kurtis. (And a sister who's a happy newlywed.)
  
• The newest addition to the family, my sweet nephew Kaden. (And a sister who's a happy new mommy.)
  

May your cup also be overflowing this Thanksgiving with gifts large and small, and may we all often count our blessings -- especially when they are people in our lives -- throughout this holiday season.

Turkey time

Brian & I joined his parents and brother Eric in making the trek to Leavenworth today for Thanksgiving with my father-in-law's side of the family. As per our tradition, Brian & I spend every other Thanksgiving with his parents. (We were at my parents' house last year.)

Brian's Aunt Nancy is a creative cook (I love her stuffing, which features rice, pecans and apples) and master hostess, and any foodie would've been jealous of the spread, to which my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law also contributed:



Adding to the wonderful aromas were all the traditional sounds of Turkey Day: sports on TV, children laughing, women talking about great buys advertised in the thick Thanksgiving edition of the local newspaper, the oven timer dinging, guests shuffling in and out. Each sound added a layer to the festive day.

The crew included the family's matriarch, Clara; Brian's cousin Jenny and a few little turkeys. Brian's cousins' young children -- Audrey, Caroline and Drew -- kept us entertained after dinner with an ad hoc piano recital and a magic show (see a special card trick below).

A Thanksgiving wish times four

Nanook & Roxy are our fuzzy houseguests for the long holiday weekend. I rounded up all 16 puppy paws to have them wish you a Happy Thanksgiving:

I've been tagged!

I've been delinquent in thanking Theresa and Denise for tagging my blog in a fun little Internet game that is a throwback of sorts to snail mail chain letters. First, the tagging game's rules:

• Link to the person who tagged you.
  
• Post the rules on your blog.
• Write 6 random things about yourself.
• Tag 6-ish people at the end of your post.
• Let each person know he/she has been tagged.
• Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Six random things about me:

1. Although most people associate me with the Irish heritage on my dad's side of the family, my mother's side of the family has Norwegian roots. According to family genealogy research that my maternal grandfather did, I am directly linked to Norwegian royalty. Alt for Norge!

2. Despite my Irish blood, I am the only current redhead in my family. My mother's mother, who dyed her hair red, swore that it was natural. She made a bet that she would have a redheaded child to prove it. She won a bottle of wine in 1951 when my mother (her first daughter) was born with strawberry-blonde hair. Mom's hair later turned blonde, but grandma's genes were proven again when her first grandchild, me, was born with red hair. Grandma had died two years before I was born, but Mom said that she knew who my guardian angel was ... and that Grandma would've been toasting with another bottle of wine. I'm thankful that my hair has stayed red ... and I don't color it. Honest. (I'd bet on it.)






















3. I used to wear the symbol of the enemy. A KU grad and huge Jayhawk fan, you would've thought I have always been anti-Wildcat. But in high school, before I became hooked on KU basketball and the university lured me to campus with a hefty journalism scholarship, I often wore a soft and comfortable K-State sweatshirt handed down from my neighbor Trina, who went to K-State. Never again!


4. I once sang in one of the oldest churches in London during a high school choir trip. During the trip, my friends called me "Mistletoe" because that's what they thought the British man at the airport called me when he checked my passport and said, in his very thick accent, "Thank you, Miss O'Toole." The highlight of the trip, though, was visiting the birthplace of William Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon.

5. My first day as a full-time newspaper reporter was Sept. 11, 2001. My assignment that day was to head to the airport and interview people whose planes were headed from one coast to the other and who had to land in Wichita when all flights were grounded. Brian and I had just married 10 days earlier, and I felt guilty for being a happy newlywed starting my new life during a time of such national sadness and distress.

6. I once did a live phone interview on Court TV about a murder trial I was covering in Butler County, Kan. It was the first -- and only -- murder trial I've ever covered on my own.

I tag:

1. My sister Jen, whose blog is "The Happy Couple: Party of Three!"

2. My cousin Evan, whose blog is "30 Percent Irish: Adventures in Wyoming"

3. His wife, whose blog is "Trying to Catch a Breath"

4. Jenn, whose blog is "Patience is a Virtue"

5. Curt Rogers, a Denver blogger and fellow lover of golden retrievers, whose blog is "While Walking Duncan."
Curt was kind enough to nominate my blog for the Brillante blog award in July.

Musical kitty

Since her Internet music premiere in "Drama Kitty," Meow Meow has taken a particular interest in Brian's guitar. So far this week, I've found her sleeping in his guitar case and curled up near the guitar.

Perhaps kitty's wanting to go country ...

Meow Meow sings "Drama Kitty"

Meow Meow is a very impatient kitty in the morning before she is fed. She trolls the hallways of our home, making her forlorn hungry cries known to all. On Saturday, I called her a drama kitty. In the spirit of improv, I rattled off a parody to "If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands." I was amazed that Meow Meow chimed in just as needed. We're thinking about taking our act on the road, actually. Here are the video and lyrics of our silly song:



Drama Kitty
If you're a drama kitty and you know it, start to meow (Meow!)
If you're a drama kitty and you know it, start to meow (Meow!)
If you're a drama kitty and you know it, and your meow will surely show it, if you're a drama kitty and you know it, start to meow (Meow! Meow!)

Family ties

This has been a crazy weekend, with Brian's cousin Meagan's wedding shower on Saturday (the wedding is tonight), my brother-in-law Eric staying with us this weekend and me seeing "Twilight" Saturday night. (The movie was fun, the brooding vampire was alluring, but, of course, the film didn't even come close to the book. The special effects were less than impressive, and I imagined many things differently, including what the character Charlie looked like. It was Jen's first girls night out since before Kaden was born, and she & I had fun with Chris.)

One of the highlights of the weekend was at the shower, when I presented Meagan and her (and Brian's) Grandma with a special gift.

Six years ago, I made Grandma, Brian's family's matriarch, a special family tree quilt for Christmas. Using a quilt block-a-day calendar, I sewed a quilt block representing the birthday of each person in Grandma's immediate family. (That includes her late husband, two children and their spouses, their combined five children and me, the only in-law at the time.) To make the pattern work, Grandma's four single grandchildren have solid blocks next to their birthday blocks.





Stephen is the first in-law to join the immediate family since I made the quilt. So in honor of the wedding, I made a block that represents his birthday, May 1. The block is a May Day basket. This wasn't an idea I had planned for when I designed Grandma's quilt, so I was thrilled this week when I found that I still had some fabric left over from the project that I was able to incorporate in Stephen's block. (I actually used the white-on-blue floral in Meagan's block, so it's especially fitting.)

I borrowed Grandma's quilt so I can soon stitch it in place next to Meagan's:

I found my Christmas read!

After shopping in Bradley Fair for a dress to wear to the family wedding this weekend, I stopped by Watermark for a book signing event they were having with author Greg Kincaid, a fellow Kansan and KU grad. He was a pleasure to chat with, and he signed my copy of his book, "A Dog Named Christmas." It's my pick for my annual Christmas read. I'm looking forward to it!

In the meantime, though, I'm wrapping up the "Twilight" series with the fourth and final book, "Breaking Dawn." Jen, Chris & I are seeing the movie this weekend. I am so pumped! Anyone want to join us?









Also on my list of books-turned-motion-pictures-I-must-see is the movie Secret Life of Bees. My book club read the book by Sue Monk Kidd a while ago, and I enjoyed the book. Will it do the novel justice, though? Doubtful, but I want to check it out nonetheless.

Home renovation update

Week in the life of our home renovation:

Sunday: grout and clean tiles in the kitchen, lay tiles in the entryway
Tuesday: grout and clean tiles in the entryway, seal the bathroom tiles and some kitchen tiles
Wednesday: reinstall fridge (Yay! It's finally out of our living room!), install new stove, install new microwave, realize microwave is too low, uninstalled microwave, uninstalled cabinets, move cabinets up three inches, reinstall microwave
Thursday: Brian cooked us our first dinner in our "new" kitchen: lamb chops in a mushroom-wine sauce with couscous and a pomegranate-spinach salad. (He didn't use a single recipe, and it was delicious!)

We have a houseguest staying for the weekend: my brother-in-law Eric. There's a family wedding and some other fun things planned, so we're taking the weekend off renovations. Next on our project list: new carpet. We'll keep you posted.

Piggy puppies

Dakota & Lilly haven't exactly been the center of attention at our house, where we've been more than preoccupied with our tiling projects. So Brian & I picked out a special treat for them at the pet store today: Bacon in a Blanket, a puppy version of pigs in a blanket featuring pork and rawhide. Mmm!

In this video, you'll see that Dakota was totally after Lilly's treat. She was too fast, though, so his attempt to steal it failed.

Extreme Home Makeover: Our Edition

Home project update: On Saturday, Brian & I finished laying the tile in the kitchen. We're getting ready to get started grouting it this afternoon. Here's a sneak peak at our work in progress, shown from the two entryways into our kitchen:


We also hope to start work on tiling the two entryway areas in our living room just inside the front door and the door leading to the garage.

Yes, I'll admit it ...

I finished reading "Eclipse" this morning and am planning a book run with Jen later (I'll need another home renovation break) so we can pick up the fourth and final book in the Twilight series.

She and I also are excited to see the movie, which opens Friday, and have been looking around online at all of the Twilight stuff. (Trust me: There's a ton of it.) I've been cracking up at the funny Twilight T-shirts on Cafe Press. Some of my favorite are below. They make more sense if you've read any of the series.

Before dinner and a movie last night, Nicole & I went to Target so I could buy a wedding shower gift for Brian's cousin. We ran into a high school senior I know from youth group, and she & I talked about Twilight a bit. I told her that I had seen some pretty funny tees online, and she said that she already had one. She said that hers said "I kissed a vampire ..." I, of course, had seen that shirt online, so we finished her sentence in unison by saying "and I liked it!" That sent us into a fit of giggles. Poor Nicole, who hasn't read the books, was very out of her element. Silly Twilight fans.

Break time

On Tuesday, I met Mom and Janice at Quilt Guild. I enjoyed the funny and talented quilt designer Kim Diehl, who was the guest speaker. A few of her intricate quilts that she showed us:


Mom turned in several more baby quilts that she's made for local charities. I'm so proud of the good deeds she's doing and how she keeps improving. She continues to go to rehab and spends a lot of time with her new grandson. And she looks beautiful doing it.


Jen, Kaden & I joined Mom for dinner tonight, and Janice & Nicole stopped by to say hello. It was Janice's first time to meet Kaden. He's growing fast, and he's a beautiful baby. (I think I'll even eventually forgive him for spitting up on me three times tonight. Aren't I a nice aunt?)


Sadly, tomorrow night it's back to the home project. Don't get me wrong: I am enjoying it. But it truly is exhausting work. I don't think I'll be headed to the Y anytime soon. Now, time to go get rested up.

Weekend warriors

I wish I could say we had been able to wrap up our big home DIY project in a single weekend, but we got things off to one heck of a start. Come Thanksgiving, the main floor of our home should look completely different, with all new carpet and porcelain tile in our entryway, kitchen and bathroom. We're hiring someone to lay the carpet, but first, we're taking care of the tile portion of the project. Fortunately, a work associate of Brian's loaned us all of the equipment we need.

On Saturday, Brian & I got started by ripping the rooms we're going to tile down to the subfloor and starting from scratch. It's not easy work, but I'm loving the bathroom floor, which is nearly finished. (We just need to seal it.)

In the meantime, we're breaking in our new dishwasher and hoping to install our new flat-top stove soon. I can't wait to get the kitchen floor done so we can move our fridge, now sitting in the living room, back to its home. Here's a look at what we've done so far:


I couldn't rip this ugly linoleum out fast enough.


See what I mean?! Out with the old!


Brian cutting tile with our borrowed wet saw.


Me trying to master the art of tile spacers. I bet I'll have it down just as we're wrapping up the project ...


Brian working on the grout in the bathroom.

Next up: The kitchen. We've decided to be ambitious and lay the tile on the diagonal. Wish us luck!

Playing in the leaves is golden

I'm not the only one who has been enjoying the colorful trees and piles of leaves recently. Dakota has spent plenty of time in the shadow of our silver maple tree, which has shed nearly all of its leaves this week.


(Look how white his sweet face has become. It's not salt-and-pepper. Brian & I call it a "cinnamon-sugar" look.)

Here I am!

Thank you, adoring Life is Golden fans! I've received phone calls and e-mails today from several of you checking in on me since my blog has been silent for a couple of weeks. Very sweet. I appreciate your thoughts and kind inquiries. I'll devote the next few posts to filling you in on what's been occupying my blogging time so far this November.

Brian & I spent the first weekend of November in Kansas City for our annual football road trip:


Saturday afternoon, Memorial Stadium
Final score: KU Jayhawks 52, K-State Wildcats 21

After the game, I marveled at the gorgeous fall trees. The weather was in the 70s, so I loved spending most of the weekend outside. Fall is such a beautiful time in Lawrence:


We saw my brother-in-law Eric's new Lawrence apartment (I covet his kitchen), did some shopping, dining and checked out some of our favorite places, including Waxman Candles and Free State Brewery.

On Sunday, Eric joined us for tailgating and a Chiefs game:




Sunday afternoon, Arrowhead Stadium
Final score (OT): Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30, KC Chiefs 27


The weekend has become a fun tradition for us. I look forward to it every year.