Year 2 - Day 265 - December 31

This cell picture doesn't really do it justice, but it's neat to watch the sunrise in northern Tucson, because there are mountains between you and the sun. It makes sunrise take forever, but as soon as the sun pops over the mountains it's like someone turned on the bright light switch. And oh, so early! We were racing the sunrise to the airport at 6:30am. Yawwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnn.

Year 2 - Day 364 - December 30

Even though Christmas was days ago, my pile is still sitting in front of my chair. I got a big variety of things this year and hopefully we can get them home!

I got some of these:

So that I can make these:

Also, an extra bowl for our mixer, rubber whisks, books, a Melting Pot card, Coldstone money, the Logo board game, and other assorted goodies. I have no idea how we are going to get everything home!

I'm very excited about going to see:

and I even promised that I wouldn't wear my new cozy outfit:

Year 2 - Day 363 - December 29

Today we headed down to the Pima Air & Space Museum. The downside is that it isn't free like the real ones, but the upside is that they have a really cool set of planes. A lot of the museum is really just old (and newer) planes parked in the desert. Other exhibits (older, more special, etc) and things are inside hangers.

This particulary weird shaped plane is called the Super Guppy. I also thought it was cool to see the NASA "Vomit Comet" that they use to practice weightlessness.

Year 2 - Day 362 - December 28

Every time I turn a corner and see huge alcohol displays in a place like Target out here, it surprises me!

Year 2 - Day 361 - December 27

This is one of our favorite restaurants in Tucson. The chef has a gazillion recipes in her head and every day picks a few beef, a few chicken, a couple seafood, and a vegetarian dish for lunch and dinner. Even though I am completely the opposite of an adventurous eater, I have liked what I ordered all 3 times we have visited because they all have a Mexican flair and I like Mexican food. I think I've gotten a beef dish all three times. One other menu option is to get the variety dish. You get smaller portions of 3 things on the menu. You don't get to pick what your dishes are, you have to agree to be surprised. But if more than one person gets the variety platter at your table, they all get a different set. I think all 3 boys have ordered that every time and every time, they've gotten the veggie option, a beef, and a chicken, but I could be wrong about that. I find it hilarious that some people refuse to eat there because it's expensive because it's $25 for most of the meals and I leave stuffed to the gills. I'd much rather pay $25 for real food than something at Outback or Chili's or whatever (even though I love those places too) ;)

Year 2 - Day 360 - December 26

This picture doesn't do the hill justice, but you should know that we survived this cliff today while on our ATV excursion. It was fun, and scary, and terrifying, and fun again in that order. Some of the steep up and down hills in the middle passed scary and stopped being fun, but then it got fun again. :)

I did like that we were in a huge group, and went single file the whole time. That probably drove some of the more dare devil participants crazy, but I liked it. We had 3 guides - one in front, one in the back, and one that switched to different places. When we got to something hard like a steep hill or lots of boulders, one of the guides got off and stood there and gave extra directions. I couldn't believe how pathetic this hill looked when I downloaded the picture, because it was super steep in real life!

At the end of the ride, we went through a box canyon that was once part of the mail and pony express route. There was an old adobe building from a long long time ago and really high walls. I don't really use the adjective "pretty" with the desert that much, because I don't find rocks and dirt pretty, but the sunset did light it up very nicely.

Year 2 - Day 359 - December 25

Merry Christmas from Tucson! As we have done for the past several years, we got up at the crack of dawn (4am this year) to catch a flight to Tucson for Christmas with my side of the family. I am glad that his family has always celebrated on Christmas Eve because it means we both get to be with our family during their celebrations even if it means no sleep and lots of traveling. Since we left one party after 11pm and got to the next one at 11am, I'm willing to be there's actually less hours between our celebrations than some friends who have less than 3000 miles to travel. :)

This is ALL of Tucson. These are all the tall buildings they have to offer.

Year 2 - Day 358 - December 24

Lego Death Star, 5 and a half hours in ...

Year 2 - Day 357 - December 23

Several weeks ago, this large Amazon box arrived at school with Mike's Christmas present inside. The box was much bigger than I was anticipating, knowing what was packed inside. I didn't even open it, I took it right to Sarah's house for safekeeping in their garage.

Santa delivered it today so that I could wrap its contents. The wrapped box beside it is what was inside. That's much closer to what I was expecting.  There was more packing than gift!

Year 2 - Day 356 - December 22

I just spent quite some time wrapping presents. I love wrapping presents!!! This isn't even all of them, it's just the biggest clump. It makes me sad that I'm not there to actually give most of these presents out, since we miss the family party on Mike's side due to flying each year, but I try to pick things out for people that they will like!

Year 2 - Day 355 - December 21

I had read fun things about the show Revenge, but hadn't had enough time to add it into my rotation until recently. ABC decided to put all of the fall episodes online during the hiatus so that people could get caught up and start watching live when it comes back in January. (Genius move, if you ask me. They did it with Once Upon a Time as well, and now Pan Am is on iTunes for free as well.)

It's totally a night time soap, but I like it. I'm into this new style show where you get clues each week that help you figure out the bigger picture. I finally finished episode 10 tonight, so I'm all caught up and anxious for new episodes!

Here's a look back at my fall TV ...

Sunday:
Once Upon A Time - It's like Lost meets fairy tales. The residents of a town in Maine are actually all our favorite fairy tale characters under a spell, meaning they have no idea that they're fairy tale characters. Each week, we get the back story from their "once upon a time" character and see how that links to the role they play in the current day town. I am so happy that it's an ABC show, because they're sticking with a lot of the Disney-fied versions of fairy tales. I know that probably bothers some literature purists out there, but I am OK with the fact that the Disney versions are what I know best.

Dexter - This season was pretty weak. We figured out the twist early on and just confirmed our suspicions the whole time. Also, we predicted the ending scene although we originally predicted that it'd be NEXT season's ending scene. I am anxious to see how it will evolve from here, knowing there are just 24 episodes left until it's over.

Homeland - Holy cow this show is amazing. Everyone should win awards. It's about an American POW who has been imprisoned for years, and his re-entry into the world. However, Claire Danes is a CIA agent who believes the POW was turned in captivity and is actually working for the bad guys. There's a lot that we as viewers don't know, but there's a lot that we do know. It's amazing. Buy Showtime, watch all 10 episodes on demand, and then cancel Showtime if you have to. It's that good.

Good Wife - Since I watched the first two seasons on DVD this summer, I was happy to get to see it in real time. It's pretty much a serial and the same things happen every week, but that's ok. It's a good story. Juliana Margulies is so good in the role.

Hung - I liked the first two seasons of this HBO show, but season 3 was pretty dumb. So dumb, in fact, that I forgot about for weeks at a time and had to catch up on HBO Go. It's over though, and isn't getting renewed. No Big loss.

Monday:
HIMYM - This show has its ups and downs, but I enjoy it. I'm ok with the fact that isn't not all focused on finding the mother. I feel like it's the current day Friends, and that's just one part of the story. I like the way the writers keep gags going, like the slap bet and Barney's duck tie. When I was little, I used to get annoyed that something big would happen on a sitcom and then never get mentioned again so that it didn't matter what order you saw the episodes. I'm happy that that's changed over the years.

House - Another show that has its ups and downs, but I still like. As always, doctors leave and doctors show up, but House always saves the day. Except he doesn't ALWAYS save the day, so it's still surprising sometimes.

Castle - I think this show is decent, but predictable. I love that it's a cop show with humor though. Many of my friends are in love with Nathan Fillion so they all watched the show before I did. (I never find 10pm shows on my own because I'm asleep by then!) I think he's pretty funny and he does a great job with the character but he's not on my list of TV boyfriends. :)

Tuesday:
Glee - It's gotten more inconsistent as the years go by, but it's complete escapism so I like it. The music is almost always fun too. Red Solo Cup? Seriously? Hilarious.

Parenthood - I can't believe more people don't know about, watch, and love Parenthood. This show is about 3 generations of the Braverman family - grandparents, 4 sets of parents, and their kids ranging from baby to college. It's funny, it's real, and it's made by the Friday Night Lights people so it's adlibbed and natural conversation instead of totally scripted. The actors are all great, even the kids. The elementary school aged kids are some of my favorite characters. I can't believe it only has a mini-season this year. Horrible injustice to TV viewers!


Wednesday:
I don't watch anything on Wednesday. I know the rest of the world loves Modern Family, and I think it's fine, but I don't ever think to turn it on. Usually I catch up on the DVR from the other nights since they're so busy. (Of course when January comes I'll DVR Revenge on Wednesday!)

Thursday:
Big Bang Theory - We have watched this since the beginning. We liked it from day one, but I'm glad that the rest of the world is jumping on board!

Grey's Anatomy - It's been on forever, I know a lot of people have given up on it, but I like it. No, it's not realistic, but I'm ok with that.

Private Practice - Sometimes I like PP even more than Grey's.

Friday:
Chuck - We haven't really enjoyed Chuck this year, but we're sticking with it until the bitter end. I recently watched the Pilot because it was on my iPad and I couldn't believe how different everyone looked. Plus, I totally forgot that Matt Bomer was Bryce Larkin. :) And, the general was a different actor in the pilot!


Things missing from the fall:
White Collar - It comes back in January, but just for a little while. Most of it plays in the summer. It's my favorite USA filler show.

Suits - My 2nd favorite USA show. I love the bro-mance between the two main characters. They're great! I was so happy that one of them got a SAG award nomination!

Necessary Roughness - Another fun USA show. Dr. Dani got an award nomination last week, but I think the guy that plays the football player is fantastic.


Yes, I love TV. I've made peace with that fact. :) I don't love movies, and my husband will NEVER make peace with that fact. :)

Year 2 - Day 354 - December 20

One of the students in my children's lit class recommended this YA novel as a good one to read. I enjoyed it, however, she gave a clue about the plot in her book talk that made me think too much about what I was reading. It's definitely not children's lit, the subject matter places it firmly in YA, but it was written pretty well. I don't want to say anything about it that would ruin the story, but it's a novel in verse told from the perspective of two twin sisters whose family looks perfect on the outside (Dad's a judge, Mom's a politician) but definitely is not.

Year 2 - Day 353 - December 19

This is what Mike won as his pass-around gift at the work Christmas party at lunch this year. It's another brand's version of Bailey's. He was so proud of himself because he had to steal it back after it was taken from him. :) Goes to show the differences between school and non-school parties!

Year 2 - Day 352 - December 18

I'm 99% positive it isn't showing in this picture, but it is snowing!!!!!

Year 2 - Day 351 - December 17

Today was my family Christmas party. We drove up to NJ for the day & saw my cousins, aunt & uncle, mom's cousin & husband, and family friends. It's a long day, but we always enjoy ourselves. We make sure our baking is done before this date so that we can bring things with us. So. Much. Sugar!

Year 2 - Day 350 - December 16

I love when it's the Christmas season and we start getting Christmas Cards! It's the most fun mail we get all year! These are the ones we've gotten so far. I have yet to even start making our cards. There just hasn't been time this year. I'd like to make it happen, but I don't know when I will have time. I have all the stuff and a couple ideas, so hopefully it'll be soon. I would hate to miss a year!

Year 2 - Day 349 - December 15

Weeks and weeks ago, Sarah & I went to the Christmas Tree Shops and I picked up this chocolate Advent calendar. We had one a few years ago and even though it was cheap, the chocolate was pretty good.

I guess that year I got another brand. We just found it tonight, so we thought ok we'll eat 2+ weeks worth of Chocolate so that we're caught up. After 1 each, we decided that it didn't matter that I spent a dollar on the thing, it was going in the trash. I think Hershey's needs to make a chocolate advent calendar! :)

Year 2 - Day 348 - December 14

Since I'm so excited to be done with my college class, I decided to splurge and get dessert at Duclaw tonight. It was so good!

Know what's not good? Getting home and realizing you left your free glass on the table!! Boo hiss!

Year 2 - Day 356 - December 13

The friend I carpool with is super crafty. She doesn't just make cards, she makes all kinds of cool stuff. I got this idea from here, but had to tweak it due to supply availability. It's a post it note holder made out of an acrylic photo frame.

You start with a frame, something like this: http://www.adorama.com/PZ22013.html?utm_term=Other&utm_medium=Shopping%20Site&utm_campaign=Other&utm_source=gbase

Then, you flip it over so it's laying with a slant. Slide a piece of scrapbook paper in for decoration, make a saying or artwork and stick on the sticky notes. I could only get a hold of 5x7 size frames, which I think are a little big. They're nice for decorating purposes, but they flex a little too much when you write on the pad. 4x6 would be better, I think. Probably 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 would be too small for much decoration. Also, the ribbon at the top has a purpose rather than just being decorative. It holds the paper still and keeps it from sliding out the sides rather than having to use tape.

So, the red flowered ribbon looks terrible with the purple scrapbook paper, but it's all I had!!! I made this as a thank you gift for my department chair at the community college. I'm happy with how it came out! My friend also gets Pentax pens and rolls pieces of matching scrapbook paper into them, but I can't figure out how to make it work. Maybe SU DSP is too thick.

Year 2 - Day 355 - December 12

The last Christmas decoration shot - our mantle of snowmen. The left and right snowmen are ceramic and have our college mascot names cut out of their bellies. They have lights inside so that they'll glow, but the power cords don't reach when they're up on the mantle. Mike's parents got them specially made for us somewhere last year. They're super cute!

Year 2 - Day 354 - December 11

Baking, day 2 brought chocolate chip, butterscotch chip, peanut butter with the hershey kisses, and mint chocolate chip cups. Plus, we made pretzel melts. I should have thought ahead and made the kisses and melts yesterday. I always forget how long it takes the chocolate to harden on the cookies & pretzels. Luckily Mike doesn't get up on Mondays so he can stay up and babysit until they're ready to be bagged!

Year 2 - Day 353 - December 10

Today we began our cookie baking. It takes more than one day, but we got a decent start. Today's batches were M&M, Chocolate w/ peanut butter chips, and fudge.

While we were doing the baking, we also made a little more than a half gallon of OJ.

This time each year, we get a box (2/5 bushel) of juice oranges from the high school band near where I work. It makes me appreciate the high cost of OJ these days, since this pitcher cost 3x what a normal container of OJ would cost, PLUS we had to spend the 45 minutes making it. :) But oh my goodness it's tasty.

Year 2 - Day 352 - December 9

Have you seen the Home Depot ads that show the awesome Christmas ornament centerpiece using a chandelier and clear thread?
http://howto.homedepot.com/videos/watch/1241858187001/Build-A-Christmas-Centerpiece-Ornament-Tree-Chandelier.html
I'm here to tell you that it's not as easy as it looks!

Year 2 - Day 351 - December 8

A "taken with the good camera" shot of our Christmas lights. We have a couple out after the wind storm, but we're not willing to get the ladder back out and fix it!

Year 2 - Day 350 - December 7

This year's "new to the tree" Christmas ornaments!

We have 2 from our trip to California, which is less than I usually get on a trip. I decided to do 1 from the coastal part of our trip and 1 from the wilderness portion of the vacation. We got a giant key at Alcatraz and a regular ornament at Yosemite. The top one is from our trip to see Book of Mormon on Broadway. We got 2 as gifts this year, one from each set of parents. My parents got us flip flops in Hawaii and his parents got us a moose tangled up in lights from Glacier National Park.

(With thanks to Shutterfly for the photo Christmas Card layout) ;)

Year 2 - Day 349 - December 6

I have a few little Christmas village houses, but this is by far my favorite. I saw it in a real Department 56 area one year, but couldn't justify the expense. A year or two later, Sarah snatched one up (I think on eBay?) and it's out every year! It's hard to see in the picture, but this particular building is "Jenny's Corner Book Shop" and it's a kid's book store! I love it! It's not lit this year because there's no place to plug it in where I have it, but it's out! I have a few buildings and each one is a bookstore, library, or school. I figured that was a good way to reign it in. Oh, and I have Jenny's Coffee Shop. :) So that's my theme. Either my name, or my job!

Year 2 - Day 348 - December 5

I'm taking you on a tour of Christmas around our house this week. I seriously need to use my real camera to take some pictures! This is our tree. It looks much like it does every year, but I'm ok with that. It's fun to put the ornaments on every year and think of where they came from. Our cat loves the tree. He spends most of the day under it next to the heat vent. That is, when he's not IN the tree.

Year 2 - Day 347 - December 4

I don't feel great this weekend, but poor Mike is seriously ill. That's his second box of tissues and 2nd grocery bag full of used ones. (Oh, and look, there's the 3rd box waiting to be opened momentarily!) We have both pretty much laid on a couch or in bed and watched TV since Friday, with occasional breaks for eating. I did grade a zillion papers today, but that's as productive as it gets.

While he was working through the DVR downstairs, I watched most of the first season of Showtime's "Homeland" on the iPad. It's really good. I think it could have been good even on network TV. They would have had to lose a few sex scenes, but I don't think that would change the show.

Year 2 - Day 346 - December 3

Neither one of us is feeling very well this weekend, so we decided to have breakfast for dinner because it's easy. As a sign of my brain not functioning, first, I mixed up the amount of water versus batter mix. That meant I had to add a lot more batter mix to make it less soupy. Not a problem, that just means more pancakes. However, I turned the stove up too high and made a few charcoal briquets. Sigh. It isn't good when there's more messed up pancakes cooling off in the measuring cup than there are good ones on the plate.

Year 2 - Day 345 - December 2

This was my week to drive. While we both prefer the weeks that the OTHER one drives, we do both agree that my car has 1 great advantage - heated seats. I don't leave mine on all the time, but I love it for that time before the heater kicks in!

Year 2 - Day 344 - December 1

It snowed on Halloween weekend, but then it was short sleeves weather for Thanksgiving weekend. Now that it's December, I suppose it's appropriate that it's frosty weather.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my garage? Not having to scrape my car makes me giddy EVERY TIME there is frost. :)