christmas tree

Tonight I set up our Christmas tree tonight while Jon and my dad worked on his office. We both had what we might coin a "macaroni and cheese night" - just a frustrating time all around. Jon was annoyed with the tedious job of drywall taping and I was annoyed that I ran out of blue lights halfway up the tree. Definitely nothing that a bowl of macaroni and cheese can't cure!

Well, the tree is up and we're both winding down from our stressful evening. Now we have something pretty to look at. Nuku Nuku has been completely enthralled with the tree. She had a successful visit to the vet yesterday and her paw is all cured. Best of all, the claw trimming was "free" because she had all of her vaccines updated - ha!

This last picture cracks me up...Jon and the cats cuddling on the couch. Notice how Shinji has strategically placed himself on the couch to make sure that there is no room for me to sit next to Jon, or on the couch for that matter. He's still a little jealous of me.

a verrry loooong weekend

We were so glad to have a four day weekend to work on some house stuff and hang out with the fam! Jon actually has tomorrow off too, so it's more house work for him all day. I don't envy him.

I tried my hardest to bake a cute dessert for the Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday...it was a nightmare from the get-go. I saw the recipe on food tv (yay cable!) for Pumpkin spice bundt cake and really wanted to try out my new silicone bundt pan. What I didn't realize until I cooked the meal was that it wasn't a 12-cup pan. Well, Jon tells me "just put all the batter in the pan, it will just rise and you can trim the bottom off." Not so. Perhaps in a normal metal pan, but not in a silicone pan. Halfway through the baking period, the pan had collapsed on one side and all of the batter was spilling out onto the tray it was cooking on. I pulled the cake out of the oven and scooped half of it out into a bread pan and placed the bundt pan back into the oven. The cake took forever to bake and when it was finally done, I immediately drizzled the frosting over the top. Big mistake as it melted into the cake and turned into a lumpy mess. Needless to say, it tasted better than it looked. According to Jon, "now you'll know what not to do next time." Riiight...

Jon and my dad have been working on Jon's basement office all weekend. When we moved in, the room was framed but poorly drywalled. My dad has been showing Jon the ins and outs of drywalling and electrical work. They finished all of the prep work today and started on the taping and joint compound this afternoon. Jon hopes to put the three coats of joint compound on by Thursday so that he can paint it and move in this weekend. He'll finally have his own room to store all of his speakers, cables, receivers, monitors and computers and I couldn't be happier!

I spent all day on Saturday working on my ornament for the holiday ornament swap. I made some felt Christmas trees with buttons for ornaments. I've never sewn so many buttons in my life! They go in the mail tomorrow and it's great to have the project finished up a few days early!

We woke up this morning to find that Nuku Nuku was walking around with a limp. When she stood still, she would hold her front left paw up like a prancing horse. Upon further inspection, Jon saw that she has what appears to be an ingrown claw. Ouch! She's off to the vet tomorrow morning to get it taken care of. Poor thing! We wouldn't have made her model in sunglasses the other day if we knew she'd be going through so much pain!

And finally...we cleaned up and cleared out the rest of our belongings at the apartment today. Jon's turning in the keys tomorrow. It was sad to say goodbye to our first place together, but we love our new house sooo much more.

new house!

Well, we closed on our new house on November 9, and have been working on it ever since. We've done lots of painting, installed new blinds and changed some light fixtures. We're so excited to finally have our own space to paint and decorate with no restrictions. This place has so many things that our apartment didn't: guest parking, a big kitchen, "free" laundry, and most of all, lots of space.

I haven't taken any before or after pictures of our big project, but I did snap this photo of Nuku Nuku relaxing as Jon and I installed the last set of blinds in the guest bedroom. The cats have not enjoyed this transition as much as we have. They've spent much of the last week under the covers in our bed. We only see them at night when they venture around the house apprehensively. We hope they will come around soon!

I'll try to post some after pictures later this week when I have time to take pictures during the daylight hours.

delicious dish

Catherine turned me onto the world of Rachael Ray a last year and I bought my first cookbook, Express Lane Meals, a few months ago. Since then, Jon and I have decided that Thai Chicken Pizza is our favorite from the book. We've made it a handful of times and it turns out great each time. I found the recipe listed on this recipe site.

in my life

Erica is no longer a cider mill virgin. Catherine, Jon and I introduced her to the world of cider, donuts, and caramel apples at Yates Cider Mill a few weeks ago. Yes, she's from Michigan. No, she's never been to a cider mill before.

Jon has discovered his new favorite food.

Jon and I have discovered the joy of Buffalo Wild Wings. It's a tasty twist on our monthly Chicken Shack outings. Gotta love 50 cent boneless wing night!

Joel has started planning our visit to Japan next March. We are definitely looking forward to the vacation! We got the ball rolling by getting our passports updated and in order. Next up, plane tickets.

it runs in the family

I have finally figured out who Jon got his sense of direction from...his grandma. Here is a piece of the evidence:

I'm sure you're all wondering why I would post a map of the directions to Jon's grandparent's house. Well, I'm pretty sure you'll never be able to guess where it leads...I sure couldn't. It was all I could do to keep myself from laughing as she drew the map and told us how to get to her house. After ten minutes of explanation I still had no idea what her street name or number was.

Now, every time Jon forgets which way to turn onto our street or which highway to take to get to work, I'll just think of his grandma and smile.