An odd to thing to inadvertantly collect...

Christmas nightlights.  Even the electric outlets MUST be holiday festive!  I think my mother is to blame (aren't they always?) for most of these.  In fact, she just gave me another one a couple of days ago.  Guess where the Snoopy one is...I'll give you a hint:  the walls are pink.

This guy spent the holidays in the kitchen.

This one gave a cheery light to Loverboy's vanity in the master bath.

And the Holy Family (complete with flickering "fire" bulb) kept watch over my vanity side of the master bath.  I must say, though, that I think Mary's got plastic Baby Jesus a little too close to the fire.

I ran out of decorating steam when I got to our bathroom.  Lighted garland and tinsel were as far as I got on Loverboy's side.

The red decorations that I used in the bath of our previous house don't really go with the paint in this one, but cheery is cheery, right?  I think I'll hang Santa somewhere else next year, though. The double image from hanging him where the two mirrors meet is kind of creepy.

I realized the two teddy bear angels and the bad-skater Santa pictured below are probably to blame for my Christmas decoration madness.  These are the very first decorations I ever bought.  I think I was 13 and Mom had me with her trolling an after Christmas sale somewhere in New Orleans.

Last, but certainly not least, a big Happy Birthday to Papa! 

 

What's that in our yard?

I think I like the pecan orchard more when the trees have lost their leaves.  Except for the appearance of all (literally ALL) the aforementioned leaves on our patio.  I was a little bummed to have to go back to school on such a sunny day, but the fact that the students weren't there made the transition a little easier.

Little Miss got a real treat on her last day of Christmas break.

One of our neighbors has two boys who are verging on their teen years (I'm sure they'd appreciate any prayers you'd like to offer) and decided it was time for the swing set to leave the backyard.  So, it came to ours.

Loverboy said since they moved it over and set it up at about 10:30 this morning, she'd been inside maybe an hour, total.  Little Miss informed me that since there are electric plugs nearby, she was thinking maybe the space under the fort needed a refrigerator.  I responded that maybe since the septic tank is in that side of the yard we'll just build her bathroom as well.  The sarcasm bounced right off her and she thought it would be a great idea.  I was also kidding when I mentioned to Loverboy that we have plenty of open space for a zipline over there...he'll probably be drafting plans for it tonight.

All the outdoor time today gave Emily plenty of time for mole patrol.  They're awful on that side of the yard.  Which is a shame, because I'd love to have a big vegetable garden and that's where to bulk of our open yard space is.  And have I mentioned the deer path over there?  And the fact that we usually find several deer bedded down there every morning?  I guess I'd rather have a zipline than fat and happy moles and deer munching on my (imaginary) garden.   

Happy New Year--and we DIDN'T burn down the neighborhood!

So...we celebrated last night with a bonfire in the chicken-bingo fire pit.  And Loverboy made a truly boy scout worthy spectacle of one before letting it burn out.  Then...the weather front blew in and I mean BLEW in.  Sparks shooting thirty feet across the yard.  I caught our hero here through a window trying to get a flashlight to work (thought it steadfastly refused) before giving up and burying the embers in the dark.  That's just how we Nockinbirds roll on a New Years' Eve.

Little Miss almost made it to midnight.  We thought we had her fooled when we watched the ball drop in New York--11:00 our time.  The stupid clock on the cable box gave us away though.  She literally made it until 11:59.  She flopped face down on the couch next to Loverboy just as I said we needed to change to the station that was covering the Dallas NYE event.  I thought she was being dramatic, something we're quite used to around here.  But she was OUT.  I guess she can claim to have made it to midnight, since that's when we roused her to take her to bed.  And she did go to bed easily and early tonight.

We spent the first day of 2012 finally getting around to some of the craft kits Santa brought.  She has a thing for bouncy balls, so Santa really hit one out of the park with this one--make your own super bouncing balls.

Just a matter of pouring a questionable Chinese-manufactured sandy substance into a mold, dipping it in water for one minute, letting it dry a couple more, then bouncing away!

2nd anniversary

Blogging was supposed to be my resolution for 2010, but I actually got a head start on that one and started blogging on New Years' Eve 2009.  I really enjoyed blogging that first year...what happened last year, I don't know.  It wasn't a lack of "enjoying" as much as a lack of time I think.  But I've got some projects lined up for 2012 that I'll want to post more frequently.  I'm also planning a 365, well, 366 since this is a leap year, picture-a-day.  My plan is to post all 366 days, but I feel an internal balk when I but that down in..ink...cyber ink?..too much committment, yikes!  To make a long story even longer, I'm going to blog more because I like it.

The Nockinbirds had an impromptu picnic today while out running errands.  In other words, we drove through Whataburger and then to a park.  I guess this is the last day that I'll be driving "Rudolpha" around.  Don't worry.  Character car will return...we have bunny ears.

The glory of a fried pie on an unseasonably warm afternoon, mmmm.

It was a little odd to walk out on the pier...that was on dry ground.  Not a boat dock in this county is open.  You can see why.

It did give us an opportunity to go "beach combing."  The guy in the red shirt was finding arrowheads left and right.

Loverboy made a few discoveries of the same.

This was my most interesting find.  And if there was a market for "lake" glass as opposed to "sea" glass, I'd have a new job for the new year.  We found some pull tabs from old aluminum cans, lots of the cans too.  Quite a few pairs of sunglasses of vaguely '80s vintage, shot gun shell casings, odd bits of lumber, pieces of brick, and what looked like was once a condom right next to an empty pack of birth control pills.  I didn't take a picture, because...yuck, but now I think I should have.

Later this afternoon,

Little Miss has gotten the hang of her really big-big girl bike.

Then she got some jump time in.  And I just realized what negligent parents we are.  She wasn't wearing a helmet on the bike, and here she's jumping without the net on her trampoline. 

I'm ready for the Christmas dismantling to begin, so I thought I'd better capture where we put everything this year.  It was fun decorating our amazingly fabulous house for our first Christmas here.

Elvis' Graceland was at home on bar of the dining side of the kitchen along side the gingerbread village.

I could do a whole post just on our Christmas nightlights, but I think I'll go room by room over the next few days.  This one is in Little Miss' bathroom.

Along with a variety of musical ornaments and snowglobes.

And the garland with all the Winnie-the-Pooh ornaments, which I started collecting, oh, TEN years before she was even born. 

In celebration of the changing of the year, Loverboy built a fire in our chicken bingo fire pit.  If it hadn't been almost 70 degrees outside, it would have been fun to sit nearby and roast marshmallows.  But I have a strict internal control that will only let me do that if it is below 60 degrees.  Maybe later this week.

He did pop in regularly to partake of our farewell-to-junk-food-fiesta.  Eat it up and get rid of it!  I love New Years'

The fun has just about wiped out Molly and Emily.

Happy New Year and welcome, welcome 2012!

Exterior Illumination

 I couldn't stand the thought of our first Christmas in our fabulous new nest being one without exterior illumination.  My plans were much grander, requiring extension ladders and safety harnesses; but, alas, Loverboy is still needed in his surprise calling as a nurse, aiding Mawmaw in her (now moving pretty quickly!) surgery recovery.  She was cruising her walker and  putting up dishes from the dishwasher (!) when Little Miss and I were down Waco way this weekend.  You can't keep a Mawmaw down I tell you.  Anyway, I scaled back my illumination design for this year, but the lights and roof clips are ready for next year!  Note the dark Little Miss presence under the tree/in front of the lights on the right.  The raised fist with a bent arm has become her pose of favor lately.

Loverboy really wanted a tree in the front window.  Of course, that's Little Miss's playroom and the living room is at the back of the house.  Molly to the rescue!  A veritable forest of interior illumination is available at her house.  We went with the slim-line so as to leave plenty of room for play.  And decorated with unbreakable ornaments because it is the playroom.

My only complaint is the front door wreath.  It's lighted, battery-operated with a timer, but the LED lights...I don't like 'em.  Why do the colors have to be so...wrong.  Multi-color, but not the right multi-colors.  Oh, well.  Check back for the interior tour!

The Nockinbirds take the Harvest Moon Festival by storm...

Due to rolling illnesses in our nest, the Nockinbirds will not be going to the Great State Fair of Texas (insert sounds of sad moans).  However, our own dear community provided us with a taste of the glories of a fall fair.  I saw that there would be a costume contest for the kids, so we recycled Little Miss's "box of puppies" from last year.  She's going as Dorothy from Wizard of Oz this year, but I didn't see that one taking best costume or most creative, which was the one I figured we had the best shot at.  I didn't realize the incredibly small turn out they would have--a couple of football players, some M&M fairies, a baby in a pumpkin suit.  Little Miss was seized by stage fright and refused to let me take a good picture...until they started calling for audience applause to determine the winner.  Clap for that kid and she turns into a ham.  Naturally, this was after I'd put away my camera so I could clap and hoot in support.  The fair's photographer was quite taken with her costume and then Little Miss Ham stuck out her tongue and started panting like a dog.  Jeez.  She took first place, of course.

What really started this competition ball rolling was something I put on my "42 by 41" list when I turned 40 last December.  One of the things I wrote down (and actually remembered because I now have no idea where that list is anymore) was to enter something in the fair.  I was thinking a photo at the State Fair, but missed the deadline for that.  When I read about the festival having a costume contest, it also listed a pumpkin cooking contest.  Loverboy suggested I make my pumpkin muffins (however, he had confused them with my banana cinnamon chip muffins) and I felt my pumpkin bread pudding with pecan caramel sauce had winner potential, so I got up at 5:00 am this morning to cook before I went to the high school to proctor the ACT.  Loverboy and Little Miss were kind enough to run them down to the square for me this morning. 

The muffins won third and the pumpkin bread pudding came in second.  Loverboy, the negative Nelly, would mention here that there were probably only three entries, and he's most likely right.  The woman he ran into this morning at the drop off told him she won first place last year with her pumpkin muffins.  So mission accomplished, I entered a contest and even got prizes...but now...I feel a slow burn starting to bring down this smug competition...pumpkin bars?...pumpkin cheesecake?...I would have liked to have tried the pumpkin bread that she won with this year to see if she "won" just because she "wins" every year...One thing I know...I WILL triumph! 

Our prizes paid for a good bit of our fun at the festival.  Little Miss's prize was $15, mine were $10 and $15. 

The ubiquitous sand art.

Fun with animals at the petting zoo.  Little Miss has developed an affinity for chickens--but I haven't shared about our chicken bingo adventure!  I will, I will.

I don't know if I'd buy gourmet hot chocolate out of a lemon on an 85 degree day, but the lemonade was okay.

The Chuck Wagon Soda Company's root beer was a big hit, mostly because it was served in a cute tin cup.

MMmmmmm, funnel cake.

Little Miss braved most of the ropes course.

But this was totally her favorite.  Getting into a giant, clear beach ball that's inflated around you with a leaf blower (hearing loss anyone?) and rolling into a shallow pool of water on a warm October day...what's not to love?  The mother and daughter running this were very nice.  I'm not sure this is something we could do for a February birthday, though.  http://www.bubblerunners.com/ Check it out if you'd like to know more.

It's got the Nockinbird seal of approval!