family

Holiday recap

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Between the weekend before Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, my girlfriend Stephanie and I:

1) decorated my house and put up my tree, then did the same at Stephanie’s house.

2) Attended Six family Christmases involving 3 road trips (my Grandma’s in Iowa, my mom, my dad, Stephanie’s mom, Stephanie’s Dad and Stephanie’s friend Michelle’s family Christmas)

3) introduced Stephanie to all of my family, and Stephanie introduced me to all of her family (which involved drawing up family trees to keep track of everyone)

4) Attended twelve parties between the two of us (Dan & Doug’s tree decorating party, Mittie’s birthday, Jane Rae’s birthday, Elizabeth’s birthday, Rachel’s baby shower, Jen’s Christmas party, Stephanie’s work Christmas party, John’s skating party, my thanksgiving at work, Stephanie’s thanksgiving at work, my Christmas gift exchange at work, Dan and Doug’s New Year’s Eve Party)

5) Threw a Christmas party, where we watched Christmas specials and drank egg nog and ate cookies

6) Had Christmas dinner with Stephanie’s friend Erin

7) Had my grandparents, aunt and uncle, and Dad and step mom visit to see my house

8) Missed two Christmas parties (Jennifer’s Christmas party and Michelle’s Christmas party)

9) shopped and wrapped gifts for everyone, baked holiday cookies, and sent out around 90 holiday cards

10) Attended Elizabeth’s mom’s funeral visitation

11) had two photo shoots for the Nuvo article

12) Had my furnace break down and repaired, and Stephanie’s roof repaired and front door repaired

13) Had Stephanie’s car broken into and the window repaired, had my gas tank tampered with, had one flat tire on Stephanie’s car, had the CV joint replaced on her car.

14) Loaned Stephanie’s car to her friend Jan

15) Went to Stephanie’s State Skating Competition

16) Were snowed in with a foot of snow, then had sub-zero temperatures

It’s been a hectic holiday season, to say the least. Although it was fun for the most part, I’m very glad it’s over.

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Thanksgiving 2003

Cornucopia, Washington, Iowa
Cornucopia, Washington, Iowa

I drove to my grandmother’s house in Brighton, Iowa on Wednesday last week. Brighton is in south eastern Iowa, an hour north and west of Burlington. My younger brother Gary went with me, and he was very cool to ride with because he’s interesting and funny, despite the constant backseat driving. 🙂 He’s twenty-five, single and a Wabash graduate, BTW, in case you know any single girls. We stopped in Peoria, Illinois on the way to get photos of the Uniroyal Gal. We stayed at the Super 8 Motel in Washington, Iowa, which is about 13 miles north of Brighton, because Brighton doesn’t actually have a motel. It’s rather small.

Uniroyal Gal, Peoria, Ill
Uniroyal Gal, Peoria, Ill

My three other brothers all drove also; Todd and Paul drove their new trucks, too. Paul hit a deer on the way, unfortunately, and damaged the front of his truck, which I just realized I should have taken a picture of, but didn’t.

On Thursday, we all stayed around Grandma’s and ate dinner, then opened Christmas presents. All the male relatives got gag underwear, which they tried on over their pants for a photo. My grandmother gave us beautiful plates that she hand-painted herself, which will I will be hanging in my dining room.

On Friday, we went to the Amana Colonies to eat at the Ox Yoke Inn and to shop. The Amana Colonies were formed in 1854 by a german religious order who bought 18,000 acres of land in Iowa. They aren’t Amish, although there is a large Amish settlement nearby in Kalona, Iowa. Kalona is where we stop to get cheese curds every year. I bought a lot of great things this year at the Amana Colonies, including wine and beer for New Years Eve.

On Saturday we stopped at my aunt Rosemary’s farm for cinnamon rolls and coffee (recipe for the rolls will be posted soon!) and then started the six hour drive home.

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house news

So, my offer is still on the table. (actually, we re-wrote it, but it’s all still up in the air) and I may not know anything for a week or two. Which makes it really hard to plan, but… we’ll see.
Stacy moved into an apartment in Old Northside this weekend. Actually, she’s mostly moved, but we still have to move a chair and desk & computer. So I got to rearrange the entire house and move my library into her room. The house is much neater and more organized now. Stacy’s apt is pretty cute, too.

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Grandparents 60th Anniversary

I spent the weekend in Iowa at my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary. It was really wonderful (except for the sermon during church in which I was duly informed that I’m decadent and thus going to hell. It’s always exciting to hear you’re going to suffer fire and brimstone. Woo hoo!) But it was fantastic to see my grandparents, and we got to celebrate my brother Todd’s wedding as well. (Todd and Denise got married on the 14th.)

Grandma and Grandpa’s 60th Wedding Anniversary

Todd & Denise’s Wedding

So my car is down for the count… the transmission needs work and I took it to AAMCO on Friday. Stay tuned for a review of AAMCO’s customer service. Right now; not very good. They had the car Friday, did nothing too it Friday afternoon, or at all on Saturday or Monday morning. They just started tearing it apart yesterday afternoon, and the time he keeps telling me for when they’ll give me an estimate keeps getting pushed back. I keep calling for updates, and he keeps sounding pissed off that I’m calling.

I’ve been hopping the bus, which isn’t half bad. Except for yesterday morning, I hopped the *wrong* bus and ended up at the Keystone Mall rather than at work. And rather than just following my blonde instincts and shopping, I called someone to give me a ride. Other than that, though, the bus is pretty fun.

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Questions from my sister

Pontification requested:
1. Is there really good and bad/black and white/ right and wrong in the world, or is everything in shades of grey/gray? (deeds, not people. People would be a whole different discussion)
2. Jealousy: Your thoughts?
Brief update: not yet married. Kittens are healthy. Hair is short.
Thoughts from the pontiff:
1. Ranges from dark, dark greys to very light greys.
2. When I am jealous, it is an indication that:
a) I care deeply about the relationship I’m in.
b) I have an instinctive feeling that someone’s motives aren’t trustworthy. Usually it isn’t the person that I’m involved with, but rather the person who seems to be intruding into the relationship that I feel isn’t trustworthy. In retrospect, my instinct was correct 100% of the time; those persons were indeed trying to intrude.
In these situations, the response I expect from the person that I’m in a relationship is: “I respect your instincts. Therefore, I will tell [intrusive person] to bugger off.” I’ve gotten that response from my partner only once.
Steph

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