How Do You Eat?

Today was the Thanksgiving holiday celebration with Mr. Fixit's family.  We traveled North to catch up with his brothers and sisters and their families.  It was a delicious celebration!

Mr. Fixit's five-year-old niece posed a question, as I was nibbling on a snack: "How do you eat if the baby is living in your tummy?"

I responded by asking her if she had ever noticed that she had a belly button.  I said that the baby is attached to the Mommy with an umbilical cord going from the baby's belly to the Mommy.  The baby gets food from the Mommy through this cord, and that is how the baby gets fed.

She exclaimed, "Ew!  The baby is eating the food you already ate?!  That is very ew!!"

Needless to say, I am hoping that the questions do not keep coming -- otherwise I will have to defer all responses to her Mom and Dad!

Family Ties

The best thing about Thanksgiving - to me - is the family!  I do like the food too, but if you didn't have any family to create the delicious dishes with and eat them with, well, it just wouldn't be the same!  We had the traditional turkey day feast: dressing, mashed potatoes, turkey, ham, green bean casserole, corn, jello applesauce, veggie tray, rolls and a lot of yummy desserts!  My Mom made a blackberry pie - which is quite unique to the local Volga-German culture, and two of my sisters made apple, cherry and pumpkin pie.  I brought some sugar cookies for a bit of an appetizer, and the kids enjoyed them for dessert too.  Delicious!

Two of my sisters could not join us this year, so Mr. Fixit and I headed out to visit them both.  They live together, and had a little Thanksgiving celebration with the other residents yesterday.  Mom and Dad were headed west to pay them a little visit, so we were fortunate to be able to tag along.  This photo was taken by Mr. Fixit and us in the local park.  More Thanksgiving family fun is yet to come!

Lil' Peanut

One of my very good friends has been requesting a photo - and well, I finally obliged!  Mr. Fixit is a little camera unsure, so I had another friend snap a shot.  We are 6 months into this process, and the Lil Peanut - as my good friend EM has named the baby, is really growing!

The time is going by fast, and March will be here before we know it.  I told Mr. Fixit that we will have to get serious about getting ready for this baby after the holidays have passed.  In the meantime, the baby room has been painted!

We are brainstorming names, contemplating furniture needs and finishing a house.  Well, Mr. Fixit is definitely working on the house project, and I have been giving him lots of compliments and cooking him lots of meals!

Plastic Wrap

At first when I arrived home last night, it looked like the sheetrock folks had not arrived.  The large sheets of sheetrock were still patiently leaning against the carport wall -- just waiting for their moment of wall attachment!  I entered the door, and encountered this site.

Aha - the sheetrock guys had been there!  The carpet was covered in a sticky type of thin plastic, so it sounds like bubble wrap when you walk across it!  The furniture had been moved to the center of the room, and covered with painters' plastic sheeting.  Yup, it certainly looked like something big was about to happen!

So, I am anticipating that the walls will be up when I arrive home tonight.  Maybe the taping and the first coat of mudding will be done too.  It will be quite the transformation!  I will have to wait until 9:00 or so tonight to see it, because the my work adventures will be happening late tonight.

Project Pending

The yellow cotton candy substance -- or better known as -- insulation, has its viewing days numbered!  This is because the sheetrock folks are due to arrive on Monday - that is tomorrow!  I have to pinch myself to know that it is real!  The sheetrock, mud and floor covering have arrived.  So, I thought I would give you one more view of the cotton candy living room walls.  I, personally, am ready to deck the walls with some other decoration items!  Check back for progress photos!

Turkey Trot 2010

Saturday was the most gorgeous fall day!  I headed out to Rock Springs with a friend to teach a workshop seminar that morning to a group of teens.  In the afternoon she headed off to teach several workshop sessions for an adult workshop.  I changed into my running gear, and headed down to the gather my registration packet.

Several other co-workers from across the state decided to participate in the Turkey Trot too!  The race was a 5K, and I thought it would be a terrific way to support Rock Springs, and have some running fun too.

I finished the race in 32 minutes and 21 seconds.  So, basically, about 10 minutes per mile.  I was pretty pleased with the time, and look forward to, hopefully, running one more race in December before bidding the fall season farewell!

Program Memories

One of the things that is a part of my career is developing and delivering educational workshops to clientele of all ages.  We, in the business, refer to these educational aspects as "programs."  I had the opportunity to deliver a program yesterday to a senior group in town.  There were about 25 of them, all women, and they offered quite the entertainment value!

Lunch was the first item on the agenda.  They were having some type of apple salad with a mayonnaise type dressing.  It was an interesting tasting recipe, so I waited for the main course.  In the meantime, many of the ladies wanted to learn more about how old I was, where I was from and that sort of information.  They also shared some bits of history about themselves.  Here are some of the facts that I learned:

• The oldest member is 94.
• The youngest member is 63.
• About 30% had hearing aids, and I would guess, about 30% more really needed them too.
• The ladies boxed up the food they did not eat and took it with them.
• Several had diabetes, but forgot about that when the pumpkin pie was served.
• One expressed it was so nice to meet me in person, since she reads my news columns.
• The next month's program is on tying scarfs -- and each person should bring three, of various lengths.

I did present my program, had many questions, and received some comments that just made me smile.  This group broke off from the national organization because they were making them pay too much in dues.  Now they just do what they want to do, Mary told me.  I left a stack of business cards, and bid them farewell.  This is what makes my job memorable and entertaining!