Saturday, December 29, 2007
Posted at 1:08:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
The bread is rising. I like making the bread, even though it takes hours and hours and hours. It's fun. I wore my apron this year. The green one, with the pots that have apples and pears growing out of them, a single fruit suspended in each, on a stem like a flower.
My room smells yeasty. We didn't start a fire, so when I asked Dean for a suggestion of a "warm place" for the dough to rise, he suggested I put it on my desk chair right underneath my ceiling lamp. That's definitely a warm place. I'm typing this kneeling in front of my desk, because there are two loaves of bread on my chair.
I finally hung my final ornaments this afternoon, since Dean's Gs are coming for "Christmas Eve" tomorrow (today, now, as it's after midnight) and if I didn't do it by then it would just be silly. I didn't hang all my ornaments this year, but I did a good selection, and the tree looks really nice. I like it. The last ones that I felt were absolutely necessary, and thus had to hang today before I put away the last little boxes, were the tiny silvery-green vintage bells, and I found a place for each one, even though there are eighteen. I also clipped on all the old clippy mushrooms, and my painted glass berry spheres. The tree looks very pretty. I love the warm glow, the red and white.
Friday, December 28, 2007
[Post by Dean:] Dean officially lodges a protest against Duke (one per household rule) [edit by Laura: There is no such "rule"!] and the stevia guy (supplier of Dean's product) [i.e., a gift I got for Dean, with much friendly correspondence back-and-forth between me and the stevia gentleman]. Laura is CHEATING again this year! Laura is a big fat CHEATER! [I.e., Dean is a big fat SORE LOSER!]
Posted at 9:33:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Okay, good, my FTP seems okay now. Some photos from our trip to N.C.:
Posted at 1:27:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
1) Getting ready to go at snowy MMK (Dean taking the cover off Tango), 2) me in front of the Gs tiny Christmas tree on Christmas morning (we'd already exchanged our gifts with my sister Diane's family on the day we arrived, because Jan and June had to be back in Maryland on Christmas day), 3) wearing one of my favourite gifts, fantastic new socks from Diane!!! (I can't decide if they look more like urchins or anemones, or possibly even jellies), 4) another absolutely beautiful set of gifts, from Mary, 5) wonderfully wrapped gift from my parents! (it was a really cool fish dish handmade by a local artist) (a flounder).
And, flying home in the storm: ice on our wing (just a tiny bit; it was fine) (if you can't see it, look for the little frozen streaks along the leading edge), and icy view (or non-view) out the front window, up at 11,000 feet. We descended back to 9,000 feet and all the ice dissipated, but we were inside or above a solid layer of clouds for most of the flight, so there wasn't much to see anyway. :-)
No one took any photos of gift-opening or family gatherings or stuff like that. But that was nice. It was very relaxed and fun.
We got back last night (very rainy, IFR-y flight, but it was fine and ATC looked out for us) and I'm a slack, so I didn't post anything while at the Gingers. It was a very nice, relaxing, happy Christmas. I got to spend quality time with almost all my favorite people. And the best part was the new addition to my room at the Gs: a radiant heater!!! :-)
Posted at 12:54:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
As we were ascending on the flight down, Dean and I both noticed this strange new smell in Tango, and at first we couldn't figure out what it was. Then we realized it was all the Kona coffee we were bringing my dad for Christmas! The scent kept mysteriously appearing and disappearing at various times throughout the flight for no apparent reason, but we always smelled it at the same time as each other, so it definitely wasn't anyone's imagination. It was mixed with the secondary fragrance of new sheepskin leather, and it smelled wonderful.
It's a good thing Dean got his Instrument rating, or I don't think we would have even been able to fly down this year. We were in clouds much of the time, both ways. I have some photos I want to post, but my FTP server is misbehaving, so I'll have to wait until it shapes up. (Tomorrow, I hope.)
Also, I would be massively losing the Christmas Card Competition right now, if not for surprise support from David (!), Thomas (!!), and the stevia tea man (Dean doesn't want to let me count him as one of my people, but I am standing firm). We also got a card from Kailua Storage Kings! (But that's clearly a joint pal.) I am not sure what the current score is, but it's quite close.
I used my new Palma for real for the first time time today, and it is grand.
Also, I got a cute little 4-cup white-and-stainless drip coffeemaker for Christmas (from my Gs) and I made a cup of coffee with it today! I messed it up at first because I have no clue how to use a coffeemaker, but after I called the HOTLINE listed in the manual, I figured out what I was doing wrong. Well, my inablity to fathom the complexities of the (very simple) machine is silly, but the instructions and diagram were extremely unclear, and I am proud of myself for calling a customer service thing on the phone all by myself! :-) After I did it right, the coffee turned out nice.
I can't post anything else until my FTP connection shapes up. I need photos!
