Monthly Archives: December 2011

Dec31

New Years Eve!

Posted on by
Standard

It’s new years eve and we finally have snow! It is weird because I was really enjoying not having to deal with the snow…no shoveling, easy drive to work, etc. but when we woke up and it was white outside, I couldn’t help but feeling a little bit giddy and excited to see it. This morning it was snowing huge beautiful flakes so we took a walk down to the park and along the river in the trees.

So, new years eve…big night. What are we doing? Nothing! :) Husband is feeling a little under the weather (he’s napping on the couch right now) so we are going to just stay in, keep it low key. I do have some plans though – I got some fabric and am planning to sew up a cute little outfit!

Here is the fabric
fabric swatch

It is a little wild and I don’t usually wear things reminiscent of animal prints, but I really liked it AND it was on clearance at JoAnn fabric AND their clearance was and extra 50% off! SCORE!

So, here is the pattern I am planning to make, the green long pant jumpsuit.
patternWill it turn out…who knows! I kind of have issues following directions and being precise, but there are only four pieces to sew together plus the elastic.

Anyhoots, that is my plan for new years eve! Ring in the new year with some custom  made duds.

Be safe everybody and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Dec26

Yay for another niece!

Posted on by
Standard

Husband’s brother and wife had a sweet little baby girl today! We are so excited for them – and for another niece as she evens out the score again, 3 nieces and 3 nephews. When did we get so many?!

I LOVE all her hair – it won’t be long and I will be able to french braid it and curl it and fix it up in fun piggy tails! :) So exciting!

Welcome to the family!

Dec23

Christmas card picture

Posted on by
Standard

For those of you who got a Christmas card from us in the mail, you might be wondering what in the heck was up with the picture. I thought I would give you the quicker version of how we ended up with such an odd picture of us.

We wanted to use a picture from our honeymooniversary since that was a real highlight of the year. (both the trip, and us being married 5 years) So, we start going through the images and realized that while there is a small selection of images with both of us in them, they aren’t very good. We were camping and it was cold so we usually either had hats on or hat hair, as I mentioned, we only showered a couple of times while we were there due to the fact that you had to drive to a location that had showers and then pay or try to use the shower in our camper, it was not a fun experience to use it…(insert a long explanation having to do with running the generator only during certain hours, the battery for the camper going dead in the middle of the night due to the cold, a small water heater tank only big enough for about 1.5 continuous minutes of warm water, and the fact that I was almost to tall for the shower, let alone Jeff etc etc)

So you are getting the picture here that while we were certainly enjoying ourselves, we were not looking real great. So I thought, instead of using a picture of us that is not real great, why not just use a bad one and call it a day. No sense in putting lipstick on a pig, right? This way I figured people would get a laugh…spread some holiday cheer. It is always fun to get something a little unexpected and out of the ordinary.

If you haven’t seen our holiday card, this is what it looked like.
holiday card 2011“May your days be merry and bright”

Now, if you look past our grinning mugs, you will see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and the Lower Falls. Where we are standing is called artist’s point and it is the most photographed place in Yellowstone. You can see why – it is BEAUTIFUL there!

Yesterday we met  friends for lunch and were laughing about the card and when we were explaining the situation, hubs came up with another idea that would have been quite hilarious using this outtake where he is sneezing and I am trying to get my face out of the spray zone….
holiday card runner upthe quote he came up with to accompany this gem? “May Gold bless you and yours in the new year.” Bahahaha!

So that is the story of how our random holiday card came to be this year. I do hope you all got a good laugh or at least a smile out of it!

Dec21

Demystifying the Winter Solstice

Posted on by
Standard

As a lover of sunshine and long summer days, this time of the year is hard for me. Days when I have to commute to work, I get up and it’s dark, drive for about 80 minutes and it’s dark the whole time, get to work and people don’t like the overhead lights on so I work in the dark with only my desk lamps to brighten my deskicle, when I leave for home the sun has already set and it’s dark. I always feel like it is time for bed.

But good news! At 11:30pm TODAY the winter solstice will occur!

I’m sure you’ve all heard of the solstice and are aware that is marks the shortest day/longest night of the year. Well, I got a little curious about it because I had heard that it was different dates, different times, etc. so I looked into it and found out a few really interesting things.

The earliest sunset/latest sunrise do NOT occur on the solstice! (Crazy, right?!) There is a long, scientifical explanation for it having to do with sun time vs. clock time, the tilt of the Earth’s axis, and the oblong shape of our orbit around the sun, but I just thought that face was quite intersting! Also! The earliest sunset and latest sunrise don’t occur on the same day! Nope, the dates vary each year, but the sequence is always the same: earliest sunset in early December, shortest day on the solstice around December 21, latest sunrise in early January. Sweet huh?

The winter solstice happens at a time, it’s not a day, and it is the same everywhere in the world. Thursday, December 22 at 5:30 UTC to be exact. This leads into the next interesting thing in that the solstice isn’t really about a short day/long night, the solstice is when the sun is at it’s lowest point in the sky, 23.5 degrees below the north pole horizon. So, if you are along the Tropic of Capricorn, the sun will be directly overhead at noon.

Right now, we are orbiting around the sun faster than average. Not really relating to the solstice, but a fun fact. Also a good excuse to use if you do something clumbsy…oh, I guess it is the change in gravity due to our accelerated rate of orbit right now that made me trip on my feet.

Are you feeling more informed and kind of excited now? I sure am!

So, happy winter solstice everybody! I think it is certainly worth celebrating. Maybe we will stay up and have a little toast at 11:30 to celebrate the turning point!