Update

It has been a while since either one of us has updated this thing, but I had a few minutes and wanted to write a quick note.

We have both been sick lately, I with pneumonia, and Kris with something reminiscent of the same, and Harry has been sick too.  Hopefully we are all getting over the crud!

As a aresult of being sick, I was out of work for about a week.  It has been hard getting back in the swing of things and catching up on the backlog of work.  Tonight, Kris has gone with her firend K to see a play at Salem, so Harry and I have the house to ourselves!  I think we are going to head to the Y and shot some basketball, or we may hang out at home and watch a movie.  This weekend, I think we're catching up on doing some work at home.  

That's it for a quick update.  I'll try to be better about posting on here, even though I'm not sure that anyone reads!

Learning Something New...

Aside from making cootie catchers in elementary school, I have never really played with origami. I did some iris folding several years ago and really enjoyed it, but kind of hit a dead end with it. At any rate, I am attempting to learn a new skill - origami.

Here are my first attempts at making some wishing star earrings. These are "upcycled" from a grocery store paper bag (thank you Lowe's Foods). As you can see, I need to work on consistency as the stars are not the same size. However, one of my ears is higher than the other, so this should work out fine. LOL

My second attempt turned out better. The stars are made from scraps of

paper I had from a previous project and the red beads are Swarovski crystals. In true wishing star fashion, a holiday wish is inscribed on the inside of each star. I am wearing these today to see how they hold up. I did not finish them with any kind of sealer, so we shall see how rough and tumble they can take it.

I am loving making these! Now, what to do with a bunch of origami earrings...

Overdue Update

It has been a while since either one of us has posted an update, and keeping this thing up is something that I want to do. Kris is asleep, and I am restless thinking about work matters and other things. So rather than fret and toss and turn, I'll write for a while until I get tired and fall asleep. I hope that mentality does not rub off on any potential readers--"I'll just read until I fall asleep"--so I'll try to keep it interesting.

The biggest news item since our last update is that I'm gonna be a dad! Harry's biological father decided to reliquish his parental rights, and I will be adopting Harry soon. We are all excited, and I am looking forward to making it official, even though I have felt like a dad to Harry for a long time. We are a family no matter what, but I am excited about making it official.

The house is coming along well. Kris spent a lot of time working last week, hanging and staining closet doors and a door to the yellow room. I was out of town at a continuing education opportunity, and when I returned, I was blown away by the progress! I know I;m not very good at expressing that, but I hope Kris knows that I was most impressed, and am glad that my wife is handier than I am :^)

Work stuff is keeping me busy. I am continuing to work on updated policy and procedures manuals, a construction project, a trail project, and a couple of grants, all the while trying to fend off attacks. I am grateful for my job, but it causes an inordinate amount of stress to work hard and be met with unappreciative and vindictive people. I suppose I had fair warning, but it is still hard!

Harry was in a Christmas Parade this past weekend with his scout troop, and Kris and I enjoyed watching the parade, selectively picking up candy, and freezing. We even saw a few stray snowflakes! We also attended a Christmas Tree Lighting Service in our Town, which was a fun event, and has been a bright spot in a busy stressful week.

This time of year is extremely busy and stressful, and I think it is compounded by the fact that we are newlyweds trying to still adjust to living with each other and being a family. Even given the stress though, I have had several opportunities presented this Christmas season to pause and reflect on the real importance of Christmas, family, love, hope, and other important themes. The pastor's sermons the past couple of Sundays still linger in my mind, and the message that the speaker gave at a luncheon I attended today was certainly poignant. I pick on Kris alot because she has an innate ability to detect "different people"--people that for some reason or another stood out as if there was something special about them, or something that she was supposed to hear or see via divine intervention, the universe, etc. Lately, I guess I am noticing the same things, or at least reflecting more on what I do notice. I think it's neat how God works sometimes!

I am glad to have my car back! I hit a deer two nights before our wedding, and it had been in the shop for over a month. I enjoyed driving my mom's car, but it was good to have my car back!

I have gotten back into doing the crosswords in the paper during my spare time, and when I am on the phone on business calls at work. I used to enjoy them a lot, but quit doing them for a couple of years. Don't know why I started doing them again, but they are fun, and stimulate my thinking.

I enjoyed hanging out with my brother this past week while I was out of town on business. Got to eat dinner with him and friends one night, and crashed at his place one night after having dinner with him, his roommate, and our parents. That was a lot of fun, and I enjoy getting to hang out during those slowmotion times in our otherwise fast paced lives.

Boston Legal has become my new favorite television show lately. Kris and I have been watching episodes on DVD before bed, and they are addicting!

That's all I can think of for now. There are other things I would like to blog about, but it is getting late, and I need to blog more regularly instead of lumping everything together in a long post.

I'm off to bed to sleep and get ready for another day of fun at work tomorrow!

Black Friday

So, yesterday, Harry and I braved Winston-Salem for Black Friday shopping madness. This was an educational experience that is hard to put into words, so I'll rely on a series of mobile wall posts to Kris' facebook page from throughout the experience.

Harry was very excited about the idea of heading to the stores for Black Friday. He went through the newspaper, picked out the ads he was interested in, and cut out things he wanted and pasted them on a page in order by store. He originally wanted to camp out at Best Buy, but after a late night of Thanksgiving pigging-out and patch trading with Seth (actually, I think we really just raided Seth's collection with his permission, but more on that later) we were both convinced that this was probably not a great idea.

Instead, we came home, and knowing that Harry is prone to sleep in if allowed, I slyly figured that I would put the ball in his court. I told him that whenever he woke me up, we would head to Winston-Salem. As I made this offer, I was between our bedroom and his, and I was so giddy at the idea of sleeping in that I actually laughed out loud.

Big mistake.

This apparently made Harry more determined, and at 5:34 AM, I was awakened by the light of Harry's room, and rolled over to find him fully dressed and ready at my bedside. After a healthy serving of crow, I got up, showered, dressed, and we left the house by 5:50 AM.

We had a good time, and admittedly I'd probably do it again, but here's how the morning of shopping went, accoring to real-time wall posts.

Homer Dearmin wrote at 6:51am yesterday
You wrote on my wall a mere 8 hours ago. 8 hours later on 4 hours of sleep, I find myself at HH Gregg on Black Friday with 440 more enthused, better rested shopping fiends, one of whom happens to be our son. You, meanwhile are probably curled up in bed laughing at us in your dreams. Something is wrong with this picture. I love you! Your turn next year.

Homer Dearmin wrote at 7:19am yesterday
Ok. Remember when I wrote on your wall a few minutes ago? Yeah, well, we've moved two feet since then. Still a dozen people in front of us. It is sooooooo your turn next year! Harry is sleepy and trying to deny it. I predict he will be crabby by 7:30.

Homer Dearmin wrote at 7:29am yesterday
HH Gregg's checkout process must involve a national security checkpoint.

Homer Dearmin wrote at 7:54am yesterday
Left HH Gregg in one piece, but feel like I should have tenure with their company. Now we're sitting in the megaline of traffic at the mall heading to radio shack. I'm gonna need to be in church on Sunday.

Homer Dearmin wrote at 7:58am yesterday
I celebrated like I won the lottery when I found a parking space at the mall in Winston, even though I think I am parked closer to High Point.

Homer Dearmin wrote at 8:04am yesterday
HH Gregg needs to learn from Radio Shack! In and out in 10 minutes! On to Gamestop!

Homer Dearmin wrote at 8:43am yesterday
Mall traffic is nuts! In the drive thru at McDonalds now. Think they have any black friday specials? Doubt it.

Homer Dearmin wrote at 8:53am yesterday
Hey, guess who else is shopping in Winston today? Oh wait. EVERYFREAKING BODY!

Homer Dearmin wrote at 8:57am yesterday
The parking situation at Target is comedic at best. Looks like 15,000 people believed somebody famous was supposed to be here.

Homer Dearmin wrote at 9:38am yesterday
If I see one more soccer mom on a two way radio talking like some kind of covert ops are underway, I may just scream.

Homer Dearmin wrote at 10:01am yesterday
Off to the other Target across town. Heading up Hanes Mall Blvd. At high rates of speed - approximately 14 inches per minute. Seriously, a turtle just passed me in the median and giggled at me. Not cool.

Finally, Kris managed to get up out of bed, probably laughed hysterically at the idea that we were out shopping and she had been sleeping, then read my posts and responded.

Mrs. Dearmin wrote at 10:26am yesterday
I am reading your wall posts - hilarious!! I love you!!! You know what your problem is? You didn't have a plan. All those gals with two-way radios had a plan, they have a team. You seriously figured that Harry wouldn't want to go, in fact, you were snickering at how clever you were. Then...you tipped your hand to him right before bed and it was ON, there was no way he was oversleeping. I have no sympathy for you, but am struck at what a great father you are!

Homer Dearmin wrote at 10:53am yesterday
The other Target is crazay! See, with a strip mall, there are other stores for people to shop at. This one? Uh-uh. For every car in the parking lot, that means at least one person is in here. This is nuts. This could be black and blue Friday before it's over.

Homer Dearmin wrote at 11:23am yesterday
With 42 minutes to go before noon, we are done shopping to Harry's satisfaction. Target was reminiscent of a madhouse. So glad today that I do not work there! We are on our way home to pretend that we never did all this craziness.

When all was said and done, we had been to HH Gregg, the mall, two Targets, and Staples. We made it back home by 1:00 to unload the car, enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers, and most importantly, NAP.

Thanksgiving Cards

I have always thought that I was born too late. By that, I mean that I am forever enamoured with things that were popular before my time. An example of that is my fondness for anything to do with the craft of writing, calligraphy, illuminated letters, stationary arts, etc...To that end, I decided earlier this summer that I would attempt to send more snail mail. (Snail mail being the sometimes slow US Postal Service vs. the lightning quick e-mail.)




When it came time to ask my nearest and dearest friends to be in my wedding I thought long and hard about how to ask them. I wanted it to be important, sincere and heartfelt. I also did not want them to feel any kind of pressure to say yes, if they really were unable to. So I decided on writing them all letters. I took some time picking the stationary I wanted. It was quite lovely - gold metallic with a pattern flocked in raspberry, chartreuse or teal. The envelopes were gold metallic as well and I used sealing wax to seal the envelopes. Each letter was specific to the individual person and expressed how much I cared for her, how much our friendship has meant to me over the years and then asked if she would be in my wedding. Somewhere I have pictures of the notes, I will have to find them.




Back to my original story - as fall closed in around us and enveloped us with the lovely array of leaves and pumpkiny goodness, I thought again of snail mail. I selected cards that I liked, stickers to adorn and luckily already had the pens I felt I would need to accomplish the project. I made copies of a recent picture of DH and DS at the Wal-Mart and included a copy of the photo in each card. I also went to the USPO website to see if they had any fall-ish stamps. Much to joy they did and when I went to my local PO, they were actually in stock which hardly ever happens. I handwrote each card and didn't just sign my name, I actually wrote a note in each card. That was a somewhat lengthy process, but cathartic and pleasant. As I wrote, I dreamt of the smiles that I would hopefully bring to the faces of the recipients as they opened their box, groaned over bills and then saw my ray of sunshine. Additionally, I decorated each envelope. You can barely see it in the photo at right, but each leaf has a trail that is brown and textured in gold metallic. There is an additional leaf on the back of each envelope, sealing it shut. I hope that my friends and family enjoy receiving them as much as I enjoyed sending them!

Scrabblicious

We had another rousing game of scrabble this weekend. TunaFish the Cat decided to play with us. She was a newbie, but caught on quick. Although she kept trying to spell "cheezburger" wonder why?? http://icanhascheezburger.com/

TunaFish understands the importance of keeping the tiles a secret. Don't give your opponents any advantage.

To see more pics of TunaFish the Cat playing scrabble, as well as pics of her humans, visit http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=179262&l=6406e&id=685760320

mobile blogging

I am writing this blog from my mobile phone, so I hope this works!

I have had a great couple of days in the Triangle Area attending workshops and meetings related to work business. I must say though, I am ready to be back home with Kris and Harry, and back to home and work projects that I need to manageam

My cold is subsiding, but I understand Kris may be getting it. Sorry!!!!

I'm heading home in an hour or so. Hope this mobile post works!