Dark Nights and Cozy Lights

The good thing about the sun setting at approximately 4 p.m. is that Rocky and I can more easily peek into the windows of the houses we pass on our walks. Because it is so early most people haven't shut their blinds. The bright lights from inside provide a perfect view to see in without being seen. I mean this, of course, in the most innocent possible way. I just glance while passing, it's not like I'm hiding in the bushes spying on my neighbors.
I especially enjoy the apartments that are in our complex because we all more or less have the exact same setup. I've gotten a lot of good decorating tips, and even a few menu ideas for dinner from unsuspecting grad students and their families.
Every year my family has one of those mini Dickens Christmas villages.

The houses have tiny little windows that are lighted from the inside. Whenever I look at it I imagine what the little inhabitants would be doing inside. In Ogden there is also a Christmas village of larger houses that you can see into.

Inside are elves building toys, or dolls trimming a tree. Despite our warm coats and hats we would shiver outside enviously at the warm ambience inside the boxes.
Walking around our complex is like a giant version of those villages and I have the same instinct to look in and enjoy the fun.
I guess that in some ways it is a little bit disappointing.

It reminds me of when I used to have a lot of curiosity about what people in the grocery store were saying in Spanish. After I started to be able to understand I realized they were saying the same types of things that people were saying in English.
"Do you think I should get the one percent or skim?" "How many onions do we have at home? Do you think we should get a few more?"
I don't know what I was expecting, except that it would be more interesting. I guess that as humans we have the tendency to believe that other people lead more exciting lives than our own.

It's the same deal with the people in the apartments. Once in awhile I'll get a good glimpse of someone who looks ridiculous while playin a Wii but for the most part it is just regular, boring, living. Mostly I have seen people watching T.V., washing dishes, talking on the phone, studying and eating cereal.
Although nothing remarkable seems to be happening, I feel a little bit like Ebeneezer Scrooge, standing outside in the dark watching the Cratchit family enjoy the warmth of their fire.

But, in my case, I don't feel too left out because I secretly think that if someone peeked in on our dinner, they might think that it looked cozy too. But nobody ever will because I know that I'm not the only one who looks in windows so at the first sign of dark our blinds are closed.

Sugar and Spice, but Mostly Sugar

Looks like somebody is already taking after her mom.

Giving Thanks

We had a very nice holiday.

Rocky spent all morning practicing with her spoon so that she would be ready for her first Thanksgiving dinner.

We shared the meal with our friends Kimberly and Kris and their two boys Owen and Henry. Kimberly roasted a perfect turkey and Kris carved it into a platter that looked even nicer than the cover of Martha Stewart's magazine.

The yams turned out just right

and fun was had by all.

That night we got together with a group of families and had some fantastic desserts and a lot of laughs.

It is nice to have friends, especially when family is so far away.

Success

Thank goodness for the crock pot.

In other news, Rocky has decided that she wants to be a Homie. Brandon and I have decided that it is just better if we let her have her way and hopefully she can work through these stages while she is still young. Kids will be kids.

Bonus Video

Another Day Another Dinner

Lately I have been striking out in the kitchen. I've been trying to learn how to cook and as the stereotypical beginner I have been presenting my husband with a variety dishes that have all the makings of good food, but have gone seriously awry. At first everything came out burned, and now I seem to have swung the other way as if raw were the new black.

It is frustrating to waste time and ingredients and get such sad results. Today, for example, I made a meatloaf that had the consistency of oatmeal.

I also attempted to make a dessert that was supposed to look like this...

But turned out more like this...


Let's be honest. If this was a potluck would you take some of that?

You'd be smart not to because in addition to having the blueberries explode out the back end, the top was nice and the bottom was completely raw dough.

Jill's first try of this same recipe looked almost as bad, but I heard that it tasted fantastic.





I shouldn't complain though because Brandon cheerfully eats whatever it is, no matter how over or under done. He ate the mashed potatoes that I made that had more garlic than anyone would need to keep vampires away for eternity.
He eats it no matter what it looks like, and sometimes he'll even go back for seconds.

I usually claim to be a victim in situations like this, but tonight while I was doing the dishes I glanced at the oven and realized that it had been set at 300 the whole time when the recipe called for 350. I guess that I should be glad that our oven usually burns things because otherwise things could have been even worse.

Oh well, I guess I can try again tomorrow. Or, we could try that Mexican restaurant, El Pato Verde, on 13th Street. I bet that they know how to set their ovens.

A Deep Hippie Connection

This is a shout-out from Rocky to her peeps.

She wanted to say that she misses her cousins but no matter how many miles comes between them they remain close because she is connected to Ethan, Joanna, and Ginny through a deep and pure sense of style.

Apples and Oranges

The other day I was checking on my Facebook account and for my update I wrote "Marci thinks that pears are better than apples." I had just finished munching a pear and felt quite confident in my choice. But, this morning I started to really think about it.

I don't know why I said that.

I mean, I do think that pears are really good, but I have always loved apples. It seems flippant to just disregard all the years that I have appreciated a good apple, often eating one a day. It feels wrong to judge fruits only in comparison to one another. Apples are fantastic and so are pears.

Having a new fruit in my life doesn't mean that I have to publicly humiliate the apple which has stood by me through thick and thin. Apples have only brought good things to my world by keeping the doctor away and giving me something to chew so that I didn't fall asleep during my education classes at Weber State. Actually, when it comes to staying occupied during boring classes, nothing beats an orange. The orange requires the two-step process of peeling and eating.

So does that mean that I should arrogantly make a blatant claim that oranges are better than apples? That would be completely out of line. It would be, well, comparing apples and oranges, which we all know that we should not do because they are two completely different things.

It is like those bumper stickers that say, "My grandkids are cuter than yours."

To me that seems like an invitation to get your car keyed.

I don't even have any grandchildren to be insulted by that message, but I find it frustrating. It seems to say that it is impossible to value something without de-valuing something else. A lot of our compliments come with a free bonus insult.

I guess "My grandkids are cute and so are yours" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

But, for my purposes, I'm going to say that I like fruits of all kind. Except for those canned cherries. Real cherries are way better.