shifting gears

When I signed into blogger, I fully intended to write about how much I loved Benjamin Button - basically to tack on to Chance's short blog last night. And...it really was the best movie I've seen in a very very very long time. But...then I got the air knocked out of me.

Not literally. Figuratively, of course. I just realized today was John's birthday. And...well...that just kinda brought me back to last year, just a few days after Christmas, when I found out John Schuessler wasn't with us any more. There's honestly not much I can say in this blog about it - I'm having trouble verbalizing my thoughts. It's been great to watch Laura come so far through the year, and it's been amazing to see how many people still love him and miss him, and how many lives he affected during his 22 years. It's just sad that he didn't make it to 23. I'm glad he's with the Lord right now, but selfishly, I want to call him and tell him happy birthday. I didn't last year - and I regret that. I messaged him on facebook...but does that count?

Maybe I need to take this into consideration. I've been so bogged down lately with the stress of work and the holidays...it's been hard to balance time with people vs. time getting things done. I keep putting 'hanging out' off until after the holidays. But will it be too late then?

Ugg. Like I said, I can't verbalize. I can't finish this. There's no conclusion, no real 'point' to the blog. Just, needed to say SOMETHING. I miss you, Schuess. Life is precious.

John Schuessler wrote
at 3:36am on May 14th, 2005

Claire, you are an awesome lady. A fine lady of true gentility...and that of the deepest kind...the woman who has Proverbs 31 written on her heart rather than her mind...who has a desire to wife and mother and be a mother to the lonely so that it eats away at you inside. You are someone I treasure...and I only wish I could somehow be there during all those feelings that tear at your heart...but He prepares in darkness what He will reveal in light...and so are you...a woman who is to be so beautiful from heart to smile...that fire is the only thing hot enough to purify such a precious stone...you are a jewel held close to His heart...though feelings do lie...He sings over you as your Beloved totally enraptured with His bride...you. You are beautiful, and it is a huge blessing to me...for reals...to be a small part of your life.-John

buttons buttons

I just wanted to gloat a bit. I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button tonight. A full week before it was released. Big shout out to James for giving Claire and I reserved seats for the show.

I will say one thing: Great movie! Claire even cried. It is one of those epic movies. I highly suggest that you go see it. That is all. I figured with all the complaining we have been doing we could balance it out with some bragging. HA!

pc or bust

No, I'm not talking about being politically correct. If you know me, I am about the last person that cares about that. I am talking about my PC being busted. I love me some computer trouble. I think Claire and I have a curse on our comps. As soon as one of us fixes a problem the others goes out. My most recent problem: my screen shuts off after reboot but the computer continues to run. Yeah not an easy problem to fix when you need a screen to access the information on the computer to fix it. So far I have reformatted the hard drive, purchased a new monitor which is really pretty, ran the computer with the case off, and bought and installed a new power supply for the whole computer. NO luck with any of it. Yes it is slightly frustrating, but at the same time I have a little more time to waste everyday as I am not wasting it on the computer anymore.

If your a computer whiz and have any thoughts on repair that would be great. Other than the pc ordeal Claire and I are just trying to chug along through Christmas. We still have a billion things going on and a billion more to do. Somehow we managed to put off the Christmas picture for our cards until today. Guess how cold it was outside today, yes thats right 32 degrees. Not exactly the nicest day for outdoor photos. But sometimes you learn, as a husband, you just suffer through what the wife wants. Yeah it was cold, and it involved a lot yelling and arguing but for dang sure these cards will be full of Christmas cheer. HA! I am glad Claire wants to do them although I hate the process. Brewster wasn't to happy being out in the cold either.

The other fun event of the day: Allergy Testing. Results: I am allergic to everything but dog. No seriously. The only thing not itching on my back today was dog, cat, cockroach(yeah gross), and some rare mold. Everything else made me swell up and itch like crazy. The antidote: 5 different medicines and the possibility of shots in the future. Oh well, at least now I know what causes my allergies......air with any particle of anything in it. I try to keep a good attitude but sometimes everything comes together all at once and you feel a bit overwhelmed. Claire is feeling it, as am I. I work about 90 hours through Christmas eve so I have little time off to accomplish anything and today we got very little done other than discover I shouldn't go outside and my computer has a unsolvable hardware problem.

Tis the season for joy!

I am not really that bitter! Just somewhat full of sarcasm. I hope everyone's Christmas season is going well so far and they are all done with errands and shopping!

christmas dash

My time off has been mostly consumed by Christmas. I don't think I really wanted it this way. But when you have parties to go to, presents to buy/make, food to make, friends visiting, work to run you down, and a billion other things going on you kinda lose track of time. Well I do anyways. I have been wanting to post about some great dishes I cooked up over the past few weeks with recipes and pictures included. Time has slipped away and I still haven't posted. Don't fret though..I will get them on here for everyone to delight in. I am sure y'all just can't wait. For now it will have to be wrapping and planning and checking off lists. Maybe on vacation in January I will put up some interesting blog stuff.

I think at this point I am more excited about vacation than I am Christmas. Really, who wouldn't be after working for 15 straight months. Whew I'm tired.

Oh, and just to throw this out there like everyone else has been today. It snowed last night. Not the real snow that you see up north or even in Amarillo where there are large visible snow flakes. But the flurry white stuff that you can only tell the difference between it and sleet because it kinda floats rather than pelts. Exciting non-the-less. I love the cold weather.

decisions, decisions...

I've been debating for the past week or so which point and shoot camera Chance and I should get...and I'm making no progress, really. Every electronic piece of equipment we purchase is an absolute ordeal with me. It always has been - since I can remember - since I've been purchasing electronics. You may think I'm terrible with decisions anyway, which is true, but the electronic factor multiplies the indecisiveness by 10,000. I'm not kidding. It took me a month to pick out a digital slr three years ago (shoot, I think that's when it was), a couple of days to decide on a TV, and several weeks to pick out a printer which we didn't even end up getting. Chance doesn't care, as long as it's good - he's pleased. As for me - I want to make sure I'm getting the best product for the price, and the most fitting to us. This whole process can be quite tedious.

At first instinct (prior to doing my research) Chance and I had decided to probably go with the Canon 1100sd. Our friend Hollie has it, and it seemed good enough - and it was $150 on Amazon. Just at our price point. Then it occurred to me that someone MIGHT get it for us for Christmas, and might be able to spend 20 bucks more - which opened up a whole new range of products (mostly Canon).

Part of the problem I'm having with this decision is due to my mind changing. Originally I thought I NEEDED a viewfinder. Not having one (and just having a larger lcd) irked me...and made me feel like I was missing out on something. Now I know viewfinders in p&s's aren't exactly accurate, but good in case the sun is shining so brightly that you can't see your lcd. Now - I'm not as convinced that I need one (which also opens up another range of possibilities).

I can't decide exactly what I want in a camera. It will be our secondary camera - our 'fun' camera - our backup - our quickly accessable and carryable camera. And I've read reviews and posted on message boards but I can't seem to get a straight answer. WHICH IS BEST? WHICH IS PERFECT FOR US? Ugg.

I'm debating between the Canon SD1100, the Canon SD770, the Canon SD790, and the Panasonic Lumix TZ4.

I know Susan has expressed her love for the 1100, and Elizabeth and James have pretty much said kudos to Canon in general...but I want help. Which should we choose, and WHY?

Hellllllp.

my toes might fall off...

...because it's so SO SO cold in our house. Lol. Oops. This morning when I got up around 8:45 it was a frigid 64 degrees. It's inched its way up to 65 or 66 by now, but still...it's dang cold in our house. I can't really complain - I made it that way. I have this thing about turning on the heat - I just hate doing it. It always smells funny when you turn it on for the first time that year, and it makes me feel slightly like I'm suffocating, so I avoid it like the plague. No one told me how cold it was gonna' be last night though! Goodness! I think I've succumbed to Chance's wishes and will probably turn it on tonight, but I'm sitting here in big fuzzy slipper socks, fingerless gloves, and sweats and eating oatmeal to avoid doing it right this second. I know. I'm crazy. But how many of you have turned your heat on already? Eh?

Well - we didn't mean to fall off the face of the earth - or...quit blogging, but somehow we just totally stopped for 4 days after NaBloPoMo ended. That wasn't our intention. I kinda wanted to keep it up. Oh well. Here I am now - that's what matters, right? (:

As you all know, our Thanksgiving week was a blast...and the weekend following was great as well. Our house is all ready for the holidays, and we've gotten to have a few friends over since then. On Monday night, we celebrated Natalie's birthday (better late than never). Some of you might remember Natalie - she's the precious friend who made me one of the best gifts ever.

I got the table all decorated for Christmastime - I even finally put something in our photo coasters that have been empty for 2 years (still not what I WANT to do with them, but good for the holidays).


Chance made his yummy turkey (leftover) enchiladas. I craved these things ALL year long, so it was great to finally have them again!


We had so much fun talking and laughing with Natalie,

and then we had her birthday pie (Buckeye Pie, sans Buckeyes).

I forgot to get candles, but oh well. I think she liked it anyway. It was actually slightly too rich for me (which may be a first), but it was relatively tasty. I think my chocolate icebox pie is better though...(sorry Nat)!

Chance took some goofy pictures of us, because I realized it'd been about 4 years since we had a picture together. Dang. We needed to fix that, and we STILL need to get some better ones (note to self : don't wear hoodies in photos).


And I got to give Nat her present I'd been working on - a scarf! I got the idea from Beth's blog and just edited it a little. Nat's got it on in the pictures...over her other beautiful coral-colored scarf from Europe. Lol. But here's what it looks like on its own:


We had a pretty awesome night - which was only followed by a relatively good rest-of-the-week-so-far. We had lunch at Obee's on Monday with (and provided by) Emily and Charlie, Tuesday was a lost day (I have NO CLUE what happened), Wednesday night was small group at Howie's, and Thursday Nicole came over for lunch, and Tiffany came over for Dinner/Grey's Anatomy. So - it's been pretty great (minus all the errands and appointments of yesterday, but those weren't TERRIBLE either). I'm ready for the weekend, even though ours technically doesn't start til Sunday...but we might get to see my sister tonight - so that'd be pretty cool! That is...if my appendages don't freeze off first.