Tying up December's Loose Ends

I know that I have plenty of typos on my blog. (Mainly because my mom points them all out.) I try and proofread everything, but things slip through the cracks. (It is just part of life.) I proofread stuff for Tyler as well and I am surprised how many things I catch. We all have those things that bug us. Tyler has a lot of them, but I'm guessing high up there is the mixing up of 'your' and 'you're.'

I've noticed that I don't like how people mess up 'lose' and 'loose.' I was editing a document for Tyler and I think he wrote loose at least six times when he meant lose. (It was a disaster simulation. You lose a lot of things during a disaster. I'm thinking with the scouts in charge, life will be the most frequent thing lost.) Then again, I can't ever use the word 'lay' correctly in a sentence. Is it lie, lay, laid, lain? I just don't know. Good thing it is my blog, and I can be grammatically incorrect if I want to. So there. (Yes mom, you can keep pointing out the mistakes. I like to go back and fix them.)

Today I will be tying up the LOOSE ends of December. We aren't even halfway through the month, so that is ducky. Where to start? Hmm....let's go with the non-anniversary.

You can tell you have accepted the official move of your anniversary when you don't remember to take any pictures on your actual anniversary. We now celebrate in October and have for some time. But when the real anniversary rolls around, we still like to go out to dinner if we can. This year, we went to Texas Roadhouse since we won that gift card at the Scoresby party. We really enjoyed the 'snake bites,' which are deep fried cheese and jalapeno. Yum. But we didn't remember to take any pictures.

We went to the Mall later and shopped around. We ended up purchasing some shoes. This is the only proof of our anniversary.

Also, we had a date planned for December, since we are doing a planned date each month. December was supposed to be Cook Something Exotic. Well...we kinda planned something to make, but it had a lot of strange ingredients that we weren't sure how to get our hands on. Then suddenly, it was Christmas. And from Christmas, it is just a slide into the New Year. We realized somewhere along the way that we probably weren't going to have time to make something exotic. So we opted to eat somewhere exotic. Once in the car, we decided we would just try something new. Our meanderings led us to the Black Bear Diner. The food was very tasty, although maybe not in the exotic category. We took our picture by an exotic bear. (Okay, it is just a black bear, but they aren't native to Utah, so it is sort of exotic. Shhh...I know they are native to North America, but I have never seen one in Utah, so that mostly counts.)

June had been wanting to have a White Elephant party, but I decided we should mix it up a bit, so we had a White Elephant Bingo party. My mom talked about having these in her childhood. We tried to have something similar but we did tweak the rules so that everyone could go home with a gift.

The rules were simple. Everyone brought a white elephant gift and all the items were laid out on a table. (See...I don't even know if you should use the word laid there. Is that correct?) Then we played Bingo. I found an app on my phone...super easy. We used M&Ms for markers.

The first person to get a bingo got to come choose a prize from the table (even their own gift if they wanted). Any subsequent bingos by someone who already went to the table received a candy from a basket. So everyone's first bingo got a gift and then they collected candy. We played in Carnegie, but several people were in the parlor listening from there.

It was fun and Ivory was such a good sport, since she ended up being the very last person to get a bingo.

After, we played the game where you draw a scene on a paper plate while it is on your head. You can't see what you are doing, so the drawings are quite unique. Sometimes you get points for specific things, like if your stocking is touching your fireplace, or if your star is actually at the top of the tree. We just judged by opinion and how much we liked them.

Hannah ended up winning. Her special prize was a bag of weird Santa ornaments that we were getting rid of. You should never expect too much from a white elephant party.

Grandma visited for Christmas, and like a champ, I forgot to take pictures yet again. She stayed for several days and took Daisy out for her birthday and everything and I still didn't take pictures. Sometimes, I am just not in picture mode.

Luckily, the kids sometimes get my phone and Tyler takes a random shot here and there to save my bacon. (Mmm, bacon sounds good right now.)

Ivory was lugging Pip around in her normal Ivory fashion. You can almost always count on there being a dog picture on the phone courtesy of Ives. However, they are often very blurry, so they don't always make the blog. This one of Pip is hilarious. The kids would wrap her in blankets and she would get very staticky. (That is a made up word.) The extra hair on her ears would stick up from all the static. It was pretty funny.

We did several puzzles while Grandma was here. The first was a gift from JR and Jami. It was race and we finished first because we got to work right away. It helped that the kids were watching Inside Out and since I don't like that movie, I went to work on the puzzle instead. I was later joined by Grandma who also didn't care much for the movie, and eventually Tyler too. We finished most of the color area, but we didn't get the brown done until the next day. Wow, the brown area was killer.

Here is the closeup. I like the picture. It is a James Christensen picture. I sometimes feel like that guy weighed down by all my stuff and knowing I should let it go and grab hold of the rod. (Still wondering why his shoes don't match?)

We also did a map puzzle that Grandma got for us. The middle piece looks like a little house.

One last picture. It is our TP cloud after we put it up. It is like being in heaven. Just a bit smellier.

I think that about wraps up December.

Christmas in January (for reals)

This could be the best day of the year and it is only January.

Need I say more?

Probably not, but I will anyway.

Our machines have been sketchy at best for a while now. The washer died last year and we got a refurbished one to hold us over. It worked, but if the load was unbalanced at all, it would start thrashing around like a polar bear catching a sea lion. (Sounded about like that too.)

Robyn has gotten very good at arriving on the scene first and opening the top of the washer to stop it before it does any real damage. And readjusting the clothes usually only works the second time. So I stay close until polar bear/sea lion thrashing starts again and I adjust clothes (again) and hope for the best.

Needless to say...not the ideal arrangement. But if you end up with clean clothes, it is worth it.

The dryer died a week ago. It seemed time to get a new set. Enter the Samsung Top-Loader and Dryer.

I know they are expensive, but I'm hoping they will last a while. Also, we didn't get them for full price. They were on sale, and then we got a 10% discount on top of that, plus another discount for opening a credit card with Lowe's. (You are not allowed to think we are foolish. First, we have few cards. We only get ones that we will use and Tyler has noticed that many purchases come from Lowe's each year. It comes from having a house. You probably know. Second, we pay our cards off every month. So having a credit card for us just means that we use what every special power is included. In this case 5% off any purchase at Lowe's. I've seen better super powers, but this one is acceptable.)

This new set is definitely more high tech than anything we have had before. My favorite feature is not having to guess how much water to put in. It auto fills it to the correct amount. So I'm not sitting there thinking...Well, I'm not really putting in a large load, so should I put the water at medium? Or should I just leave it at large? And I'm not really sure where the dial should go for medium/large? Maybe I'll just put it here in the middle and then watch and see how much water that is...

All the guesswork gone. It is the best!

It has new settings like a cycle for active wear. That is nice. I do have several shirts and Ivory has a lot of leotards that could go in there. I'm hoping I will be better about sorting out laundry. I already sorted out whites, but I was pretty bad about delicates or light colors.

Another bonus. The washer is huge!! It is a little hard to reach the bottom. I had Robyn try and she ended up IN the washer.

First she was pretending to be in. Then the basin turned and she was all the way in. She was not very happy about the whole thing. She probably likes the new washer least of all.

However, I haven't even filled the thing to full capacity. I washed a load of bedding which normally took me two cycles with the old washer and everything fit in one load with room to spare. It wasn't even crowded in there.

The funniest thing about the new set is that it sings when it finishes. Most washers will beep or chirp at you, but this one does a whole little tune. And not a short tune. It starts to chime as if to say it is done and you can come get the clothes now. Kind of a proud little song of accomplishment. But it just keeps going. I think the music stretches from accomplishment into boastfulness. I thinking about making up words to the tune. We'll see.

Because I have to do laundry almost every day in this house, I am thrilled with a nicely working Washer/Dryer. With the large capacity, I may even have a day off here and there. You never know. That is definitely a gift. So it feels like Christmas. Or, perhaps an early birthday present.

Photography Challenge 2016

I haven't settled on any solid INTENTIONS for 2016. There are a few things buzzing around in my brain. (And a whole post to go with them.) In the meantime, I knew that I wanted to be better about picking up my camera and taking pictures. The last photo challenge I did was back in 2011, but I really enjoyed it.

So I jumped on the band wagon. (Actually, there are many wagons as far as I can tell. The one I am following seems to be more detailed than my last one.) I am not going to go so far as to post pictures on FB or twitter and make them public, but I will try to be dutiful about getting them onto the blog. (Which is public to about 12 people.)

The theme this first week was B&W - MINIMALISM. This is what they recommended: Minimalism in photography follows the same general principles of minimalist art by focusing on color, lines, shapes, and geometry to convey meaning. Since this is a black and white challenge, color won’t be something you can use. Your goal is to reduce the number of elements and keep the photo as simple as possible while focusing on the composition.

 This is my photo:

Tyler told me that it didn't seem minimalist to him. Fair enough. He imagined one couch in a blank room. We all interpret things differently.

Next week is VIEW FROM UNDER THE BRIDGE - HDR

I have never tried an HDR photo before. I know Tyler has experimented with the technique, but this will be a new stretch for me. Also...not a lot of good bridges around my area. Here's hoping I don't give up right away.

Book Review 2015

Wow. I felt like last year was plenty busy, but I read more books than I ever have before. I'm sure it helps that I am part of two book groups, but that would only account for 24 books, and I read another 15 on top of that. What can I say? It was a great year for reading.

This year I'm joining a third book group. Ambitious, I know, but I think I can handle it because they aren't going to meet as often. And by they, I mean us...we are starting a family book group. I asked the girls and they seemed to like the idea and we quickly got more people involved. We have two grandma's, one aunt, and one uncle in the mix. Really, it is just the Dargan clan up in WA, and Vicki in ID. I would add more, but I'm already wondering how we are going to skype two directions at once.

You must be ten to join, so Ivory will barely make the cut-off before the first meeting. We will only meet eight times this year, but I am already excited to get to discuss books with my kids. We'll see if it ends up working out.

In the meantime, let's look at all the books I read this year. There are a LOT. (For me.) They aren't listed in any particular order, although sometimes they are kind of alphabetical because that is how the pictures are organized.

And now for the top five. This was extremely difficult this year. I'm going to have to add some honorable mentions in to feel okay. I think I enjoyed all the books I read this year, although some more than others obviously. (Island of the Lost was a little slow, but I have great respect for the true story and the men who were involved.) I don't always pick my top five based on writing or theme. I pick them simply for how I feel after I read them, or whether they cross my mind again. (It is a given that if I see a title and can't remember what the book was about, it probably won't make the top five.) Now...without further ado.

TOP 5 PICKS

5. The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas. This book is about a tight knit group of friends that meet regularly. Similar to a book group, instead they get together to sew. It seems like there is nothing they wouldn't do for each other and it made me consider my loyalty versus honesty. I want to reread this book, which is rare for me.

4. The Giver by Lois Lowry. This book is a classic and a reread for me. I wanted to read it again before I watched the movie. (Which I thought was very good as well.) I also read some of the sequels, (which I didn't know about before this year) Gathering Blue and The Messenger, but I didn't like them quite as well. Another Dystopian novel I read this year was Numbers Game by Rebecca Rode. I really enjoyed that one too. I like me a good Dystopian novel every now and then.

3. Ellie and the Mermaid by Megan Dargan. This book is not for sale and I don't have a picture of it above because it isn't in print yet. My mom wrote this book and it is fantastic. It is about a human and a mermaid and the adventures that bring them together. It was easily in my top five, and I'm already excited for the sequel. (She read me the synopsis during my last visit.) I truly am sorry that you can't get a copy of this yet. Give it time...

2. Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Another fantastic book. This book is about a boy with facial disfigurements and his transition from homeschool to public school (which we all know can be difficult without any hindrances.) It was real and down to earth, but my favorite part was a special addition at the end. Sadly, it is not in all the books. I got a special copy with The Julian chapters and that was easily my favorite part of the book. So look for that, if you read it. I'm planning on reading the sequel, Auggie and Me, this year.

1. Masterminds by Gordon Korman. I read six Gordon Korman books this year and it is safe to say that he is one of my favorite authors. Swindle was a huge favorite. I read it to the kids and we have been reading the series together. I picked up Masterminds on a whim and ate it up, but was severely disappointed to find out that the sequel is not out yet. So...maybe wait a bit to read this one because you will want to find out what happens next for sure.

Other Items:
* I really enjoyed the Familiar's series. Robyn showed me that one. (Honorable Mention!)
** The Forgotten Garden is a strange book with an interesting twist. Weird, but good. (Honorable Mention!)
*** Far from the Madding Crowd was interesting, but it was like reading a soap opera in flowery language. You could skip it and just watch the movie instead.
**** For informational books, I thought Killing Lincoln and My Jesus Year were great for learning new things and thinking outside the box. (Honorable Mention!)
*****One more. If you are a Princess Bride fan, you need to read the book. It has stuff that isn't in the movie. I was surprised. Both are good, but nothing can replace the movie.

I really love books. I feel like I live a double life because part of my mind is always with characters experiencing something completely different. What an amazing world is revealed with each cover that is opened.