Smith Family Smackdown!

Per Claudia’s request, I am updating despite the slow, and very inconsistent internet at home (I rate it a 4- it works, but every time the phone rings it shuts down indefinitely.  NOT COOL).  So, some more vacation highlights (that’s right, I’m still on vacation.  Be jealous )…

MY MOM’S EGG SLICER: 9.

First of all, it’s been way too long since I put hardboiled eggs on a salad… IT IS SO GOOD!  It adds enough substance that I actually feel like I’m being fed.  And this slicer is a brilliant way to cut them quickly and easily.  I love it  -1 because I wish it produced smaller pieces, but that’s easy enough to fix.

CHRISTMAS DESSERTS: 8.

A combination of an ice cream ball, pumpkin cake and peppermint bark makes for a pretty fabulous end to any meal.  Plus over the course of the vacation my mom went on to make carrot cake, and ice cream balls with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.  While I most certainly love all these, maintaining any sort of moderation is difficult with this many options.  Still worth it- it’s vacation!

SUN POSITIONING: 1.

On Tuesday I headed to Philly to pick up Scott from the airport and I swear, the sun positioned itself perfectly in between my two sun shades for the entire drive.  No matter which way the road turned, or whether or not I switched from an East road to a South road, the sun was always right there.  Funny that Scott found my sunglasses as soon as he got in the car after I had suffered for two hours…

After I picked him up we headed to the King of Prussia mall.  Not entirely sure why, as we didn’t really need to buy anything, but it was there and therefore needed to be seen

For anyone who has never been there, it used to be the second largest mall in America (not sure if that’s still the case) and is HUGE.  While there’s no amusement park, there are a LOT of stores, and it’s super hard to find your way around.  Still, there are maps and we should have been able to figure it out.  But… we weren’t.

OUR SENSE OF DIRECTION: 2

We got lost.  A lot.  But this meant we saw a lot of the mall.  And a lot of the same parts over and over.  Good times…

We finally found the food court for lunch, and it was INSANE.  Seriously, people were going crazy over chairs.  There obviously weren’t enough and everyone was on the lookout.  Lines were super long (luckily I was in charge of grabbing a table and didn’t have to wait), and there were people everywhere.

Ended up with some delicious chicken teriyaki from one of those great Japanese places that hand out free samples and make it impossible to resist.

FIGHTING THE URGE TO GET FIVE GUYS EVEN THOUGH I DON’T EAT MEAT: 5.

I won, which is good, and didn’t revert back to my college eating habits.  I went a bit healthier, and managed to avoid a heart attack on a bun, plus fries.  But there is a big part of me that loves five guys so much it’s worth giving up my ‘vegetarianism’ for.  Maybe next time…

We got home that night in time for dinner and then the 2009 SMITH FAMILY SMACKDOWN!

Last years was held at Thanksgiving, but due to sickness (on my part) it was postponed until Christmas this year.  The sport of 2009 was… BOWLING!  I’ll admit, after the embarassment that was my performance at tennis last year, I figured I had a much better shot at bowling.

Turns out, a full year of bowling every Friday night (was part of an awesome league in Gaston) has not transferred to lifelong bowling talent.

GAME FACES: 10.

Badass.  That’s all I have to say about that.  If game faces were the competition, I would’ve been close to first.  Unfortunately, it was about the actual bowling.

MY BOWLING: 2.

I swear I used to be pretty decent.  I’ve scored as high as a 160 before, and between 110-120 on a regular basis.

During the Smackdown I scored about 85-90 both games.  Needless to say I came in last yet again this year.

Good thing it was fun

MATCHING: 10!

I love it so much I convinced my whole family to wear their t-shirts again today when we played some pickup volleyball  I can come up with nothing that I don’t like about it…

Now off to fight the snow and drive to Atlantic City to celebrate the New Year with a live David Gray concert!

Merry Christmas!

If there’s one thing that Christmas is good for, it’s catching up on my blog!  I’ve decided to put aside all work for the day, which actually gives me time to catch up on the holiday happenings.

First, and most entertaining, is definitely Maggie’s first Christmas gift.  To see the rating check with the last post, but here’s the video to accompany it:

Nothing says Christmas quite like…

PEPPERMINT BARK: 10!

Hands down one of my favorite Christmas treats.  You can find all kinds of different versions depending where you buy it, but I must say the best around is William and Sonoma’s ‘Original Peppermint Bark’.  The downside is it’s pretty expensive and it comes in large quantities (neither is something I can afford).  However, when it comes free as a family Christmas gift, and there’s four of you to share it, it’s INCREDIBLE.  I knew Christmas had officially arrived when I saw this yesterday.

NEW DIGITAL CAMERA: 10!!!!!

Santa must be real, because per my request here it is!!!  Ironic that the picture below is of poor quality because I had to take it with my iPhone…

It has a ton of different modes so I should be able to get good shots, a flash (seems obvious, but a big step up from my iPhone camera), self-timer, and even has a setting for food

Also included in the pile of gifts was a SWISS ARMY camera case!  My parents know my history with digital cameras, and I now feel fully protected.  Now just to make sure I put it in there…

You know you’re an adult when you’re this excited about…

PRACTICAL GIFTS: 10!

Seriously never thought I would be this content (and genuinely excited) with:

• a 36-piece tupperware set
• a rooftop carrier (for road trips with more than just two people)
• a tarp (to protect the rooftop carrier, and serve as a footprint for my tent)
• bungee cords
• homemade towels for my kitchen

And more   I LOVE IT.

CHRISTMAS RAWHIDES: 5

Before putting out all the presents we decided to hand out rawhides to keep the dogs occupied, and out of any food/treats that may be found.  This seemed to be a good idea…

Dakota loved his (my mom got him an extra large one).

Murphy got one that was a bit smaller, and spent the entire time staring pathetically at Dakota because he wanted the big one.

Eventually it broke out into the first legit puggle fight as they duked it out for the big pieces.

Maggie got flipped over, went on punishment (she started it) and only after we removed all traces of bones did it end.

Won’t make that mistake again…

MAGGIE’S CHRISTMAS SWEATER: 10!

While it will only last for about a month every year, that’s the case with every Christmas sweater, so I don’t feel justified taking points off for that.  But this one is fabulously tacky, fits her perfectly, AND keeps the little pup warm (she seems to shiver a lot when she goes outside… I think she just needs to put on a little weight like Murph).

Even though my dad resists dog clothing, I think we’re warming him up.  It might take several months before he lets her wear the pink t-shirt I gave her that proudly says ‘Spoiled Princess’ on the back…

Just in case you’re starting to think Maggie’s too cute, a couple pictures of the cutest dogs ever…

GERMAN NOSE SPRAY: 9

Yet again I’ve come home with a pretty bad cold, and spent most of the Christmas Eve service blowing my nose loudly.  It gets especially bad when your nose is so stuffed it’s difficult to eat, because your mouth is the only source of oxygen.  Luckily last night my dad produced the most incredible solution ever- German nose spray!  Left over from their two year stay in Munich, this stuff completely unblocked my nose in a matter of minutes.  Only lasts about 2 hours before I need to spray again, and creates more runniness, but I’m totally willing to take it for a clear nose that I can breathe through.

THANK GOD!

CATCHING UP WITH OLD FRIENDS: 9

There aren’t a ton of people in Harrisburg I still keep in touch with, but the ones I do I LOVE seeing when I come home.  Sarah is one at the top of the list.  A good friend from high school, she went on to do Teach For America after college as well, teaching high school English in Hawaii (charter corps!).  After finishing her two years she continued to work for TFA, as did I, so it’s great to catch up with someone who literally understands pretty much everything you’ve done post-college.  And on top of that, she’s just good people

-1 because as I’ve mentioned before, it sometimes makes me sad to think of all the good people I know all over the country who I only get to hang out with once a year

That being said, excited to see Jess on Saturday!!!

An interesting addendum to our Wednesday night adventures at the diner…

MEETING FACEBOOK FRIENDS IN REAL LIFE: 5

You all know who they are.  The people you’re ‘friends’ with on facebook, and at some point were friends with in real life.  But if you ever run into them in real life, it’s actually kind of weird.  Weird because 1) you never know whether to say hi, because you’re not actually real friends anymore and 2) if either of you do say hello, you often know a little bit too much about their current lives (thanks to facebook lurking) without actually having spoken to them in years.  What’s there left to talk about when you read their 10 status updates every day, know where they live, what they do, who they’re friends with, and what they think about everything?

It’s still nice to see old friends, and the facebook connection actually makes you feel like you’re more of friends than you might actually be, leading to conversation.  Just curious if anyone else has observed how facebook changes the whole experience of going home once a year…

Pack Reunion

After arriving home yesterday, the ‘pack’ has spent all their time playing, catching up, and sleeping (all that playing is exhausting!)

Highlights…

DAKOTA TAKING OVER MAGGIE’S BED: 9

Maggie has a super nice, cozy bed from L.L. Bean that she received from my Grandma shortly after my parents got her.  What’s funny is that Murph has not once attempted to get in it (even though it looks super nice, and it’s just his size).  Neither has Dakota, which I previously thought nothing of because of how big he was. Clearly he’s getting more comfortable with the family, and my work to break some of his good habits has been effective, as sure enough I looked down in the living room and there he was all cuddled up in the tiny bed.  HILARIOUS.

MAGGIE’S PATIENCE WITH HIM: 10

Didn’t hear a peep from her.  She watched, came over and looked, and occasionally sat right next to him.  But she didnt seem to mind at all, and just kept herself entertained doing other things.  What an impressive little pup

AND THEN MURPHY’S ‘THRONE’: 8

Later he headed over to the only piece of furniture in the living room that we allow dogs on.  And when I say ‘dogs’, I really mean Murphy.  When he stayed here last summer, my mom covered this chair with a blanket and officially declared it his ‘throne’.  He spent all summer napping and relaxing on the chair, and now whenever we head home Murph heads straight to this chair.  Maggie’s not allowed up, as it’s just for Murph.

That is, until now.  After getting up from Maggie’s bed, Dakota headed straight over there and made himself at home.  He fits perfectly, and couldn’t look more comfortable.  Murph, however, is not quite as thrilled.

-1 for Murph’s jealousy and -1 for the difficulty Kota has getting out of it (he’s getting old…).  But he’s so cute when he sleeps there

MAGGIE’S FIRST CHRISTMAS PRESENT: 9!

I bought this awesome reindeer outfit for Murph at Target a couple weeks ago (how can you resist when it’s only $2.50???), but unfortunately due to his large rib cage (from the pug side of the family) it didn’t fit quite right.  So I brought it home for little Maggie

OH MY GOODNESS.  What I want more than anything right now is to figure out the stupid file conversion to get these AVI files into iMovie so I can show you all the video.  After we put it on, Maggie couldn’t figure out how to get the hood of her eyes so she just wandered around aimlessly running into everything.  First the coffee table, then Dakota, then my legs.  One thing after another, it never got old.  Laughed hysterically for like 10 minutes.

-1 because it counts as clothes so my Dad won’t let her wear it for more than 15 minutes at a time

After this picture I can’t help but also rate…

MY MOM’S NEW HAT: 9

I LOVE IT.  She’d been looking for a good hat to wear in the winter to keep her head warm, and a girl my sister works with ended up sending this one home for her.  She’d never met her, but knit her this nice hat.  That alone makes the rating pretty high.  But in addition, I genuinely love the hat!  It serves the purpose of keeping mom warm, but also has this awesome flower on the side!  I totally dig it.  -1 because while this color goes with everything I think I would like something a bit brighter.

Catching Up…

I love the excitement of almost-Christmas time

WARNING: Cheryl, do not read this post if you haven’t checked your mail recently and don’t want any Christmas surprises ruined…

TEACHING DAKOTA TO COME UP ON THE COUCH: 9

It’s funny to me that I’ve spent all my time since getting Murphy, as a 5-week old puppy, teaching him to be well-behaved, and I’ve spent all my time since getting Dakota, as a 8-year old dog, teaching him to ‘misbehave’.  He came so well trained, that I’ve actually had to teach him things like entering a room without waiting for permission, climbing up on the bed, and now climbing up on the couch.  When not encouraged, he just lays around and follows me.

Climbing up on the couch has become his new ‘trick’, and I kinda love it.  Nothings cuter than an 80 pound dog somehow trying to figure out how to curl up his body so it all fits.  And due to the softness of my couch, he just sinks right in and looks like he’s in heaven.  Now I can cuddle with him while doing work, and am entertained by Murph’s attempts to claim his territory.

-1 because I still haven’t figured out a way to get both Murph and Kota to cuddle on the couch at the same time…

THURSDAY’S MAIL: 10!

I often complain about only receiving bills and coupons in my mailbox (not that I don’t enjoy, and use, the coupons, but it lacks that personal touch I’m looking for in my mail), but Friday was a definite exception.

All in one day I received two (that’s right, not one but TWO) paychecks from Teacher U, a $100 gift card for life from my Aunt (turns out Visa makes gift cards that can be used anywhere that accepts Visa), and some holiday towels from my Grandma to help bring festive cheer to my apartment.

I have zero complaints about my full mailbox, and all its exciting contents   In fact, it may have been the highlight of my day.

Thursday night (after all the excitement from the mail) I headed to one of my very first Thursday night climbs at the Chapel Hill Community Center.  This semester I had Thursday night classes, making it impossible to ever hit the CC on a weekday.  Excitedly remembered that now I could!

For whatever reason the actual climbing was less than stellar, and I got seriously pumped out pretty quick.  Not entirely sure why which made it even more frustrating.  BUT, Scott got belay certified, and Jay’s roommate Tim showed up for the first time, also getting belay certified.  It’s always exciting to see new faces, and to have new folks who are able to belay

CARRBURITO’S FISH TACOS: 8

After that we headed to Carrburito’s, a pretty popular burrito joint in Carrboro.  While many, many people speak very highly of it, unfortunately I didn’t have the greatest experience the first time I went.  I’ve blamed it on burrito choice, and have been meaning to return.  This time I choose completely differently, opting out of the burrito options in general.  This time I got spicy, cold soft fish tacos, with tomatos and lettuce on the side.  I tried the fruit salsa, and  stole a couple of their delicious flour tortilla chips to go with it.  Overall I would highly recommend this choice.

Not nearly as overwhelming as a burrito, it was the perfect amount of food.  -1 for the lack of warmth (when I eat Mexican there’s something disappointing when its cold) and -1 for the lack of sliced avacados to go with it.

After Carrburitos it was obviously time to head to karaoke at Bub’s.  We’ve recently discovered some new karaoke locations in the triangle, and are flirting with the idea of a karaoke tour…stay tuned for when the adventure will begin.

BUB’S CHRISTMAS TREE: 9

At first I didn’t notice it, but about 15 minutes in I turned around to see a pretty incredible Christmas tree at Bub’s.  Covered in empty beer can ornaments (for a local dive like Bub’s, this is more than appropriate), it was pretty classy.  Smelled delicious (oh how rare real trees are these days), and added some Christmas spirit to the place.

-1- the variety of beers represented could have been greater.  Maybe one from Pennsylvania perhaps…

KARAOKE SONG #1: 3

The Christmas spirit brought by the tree was so powerful, we decided to start off with a Bobbasheely Framily christmas carol.  We went with ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’, as it could easily be divided among four people, and most people know the words to sing along.

Much to our disappointment, the crowd was NOT feeling it.  Probably didn’t help that the DJ introduced us with a ‘bah humbug’.  No singalongs, and in fact I noticed many people turning their backs.  Not the response I’m used to when karaoking, and I must admit it was not fun (the response that is- I still had a pretty good time with the singing).

KARAOKE SONG #2: 9

Lucky for us, Snooky and I had already put our request in for our famous duet, Total Eclipse of the Heart.  We figured we couldn’t waste another opportunity to practice, plus the fact that the crowd clearly needed to know we could do better.

We’re getting better at dividing the song appropriately, and tonight was a good night for us performing.  It felt good, obviously sounded impeccable, and more importantly, the crowd enjoyed it.  Some biker dudes behind us even started swaying to the slow parts and high-fiving mid-song.  I’d say it was a big success.

-1- we’re still working on our coordination and even division of the song.  Luckily there will be many more opportunities to practice   In fact, I wonder if Harrisburg has any karaoke going on while I’m home… Until then, just living for the tens!

My Mom’s Blog Post Yesterday…

10!

Always nice to read something like this

http://www.medsandmaggie.wordpress.com

Best 4 Minutes of Shopping EVER

Saturday night we headed down to Greensboro to meet Rodney and Kim for dinner, a nice compromise between Charlotte and Durham.  Many highlights of the evening, including the Blueberry Martinis at the Village Tavern, the company, and four incredible minutes spent at the Four Seasons mall.

After a fabulously delicious dinner (rated a 9.  Who puts capers on Bruschetta? And more importantly who enjoys that?), we headed over to the Four Seasons Mall to do some Christmas shopping.  First of all, I can’t help but comment on the fact that it closed at 9 pm on a Saturday night during Christmas season.  You have got to be kidding me.  When did malls start closing before 10?  And on Saturdays, aren’t they supposed to stay open later for the teenagers who can’t drive and need to be dropped off somewhere to hang out with their friends?  And shouldn’t  malls be open even later during the holiday season?  By my estimation it should have been open until at least 12.

Nonetheless, we arrived at 8:56 and sadly discovered it was about to close.  I quickly darted into the Dollar Store to see if they had any toy microphones (to practice my karaoke and lip syncing, clearly), and in four minutes found all this:

Included are:

• A cake container (please see my last post)
• A new dog leash (Murph’s old one accidentally got chewed, and I got to replace it for only a buck!  AND it has reflective tape on it!)
• Tall toe socks (I was worried how running in my Five Fingers would go in the wintertime without socks, but now my problem is solved)
• Last, they had glass rings for only a buck!  My all time fave, I have a collection that I wear pretty much all the time.  I’ve broken a few, and because the originals were from Italy they were a bit hard to replace.  I’ve since found some in Boone at an arts store, and now apparently at the dollar store.  While not quite as meaningful, it’s still awesome and you gotta love the price when you’re a full time student…

Bottom line= these four minutes of shopping are a strong 9.  -1, of course, for the lack of a microphone.

Happy 75th Will!

While birthdays are always fun to celebrate, there’s something especially wonderful about a 75th birthday.  I’m used to celebrating birthdays that don’t mark huge milestones (although at the time 21 sure did seem like one), but just another year passing.  75 is a little bit different.

This year one of my part-time jobs while going back to school full-time has been to work with Will Bradley, introduced to me by Snooky, on transcribing his book from handwritten notes to electronic version.  While at first I thought it would just involve typing, something I was positive I could handle, it has evolved into weekly meetings where we discuss the novel, teaching Will to use email (and now Facebook!), using Craigs List to sell some old items, and developing a frienship different than many I have known in the past.  While my friends all have something to offer, there’s something to be said for 75 years worth of experience and knowledge, and I’ve genuinely enjoyed learning about art, writing, ‘bling’, European drinking contests, JoPa, random migrating birds, and much, much more.

In celebration of this milestone, I had some good friends over last night, and we enjoyed veggie lasagna (per Will’s request, to make sure he was getting enough veggies), fabulous rosemary garlic bread (thanks to Laura’s culinary talents), and some surprise holiday funfetti cake.

LASAGNA: 8

I’ve always found lasagna to be easier than I would have thought, and even more delicious when you add zucchini, sweet potato, onions and mushrooms.  This time I even added ricotta (which I have since learned is supposed to be a staple), and I was definitely a big fan.

GARLIC BREAD: 10!  SERIOUSLY loved this.  Almost want to take off a point because it was so good I had too many pieces, but that really wouldn’t be fair.  Lucky I still have one leftover piece in the fridge…

BIRTHDAY CAKE: 8.5

It wasn’t the prettiest cake, that’s for sure, but it certainly was good.  -1 for the excessive frosting (I kept applying to cover any mistakes, and this resulted in about 2 inches of frosting around the edge), and .5 for the lack of a cake container (meaning it sat on a cookie sheet with a mixing bowl on top of it.  Classy, I know).  That being said, the combo of chocolate whipped icing, funfetti cake, AND funfetti holiday icing (green) sealing the two layers together, it was pretty incredible.  To top it all off, the candles were a big 75, which looked great

After dinner we headed to a local sports bar, Champps, since we’d heard they had karaoke on Friday nights (a bit more convenient than Bub’s Thursday night karaoke).  My original big goal was to convince Will to come with us, but this turned out way easier than I anticipated (I asked, he agreed).  My new goal was to convince him to sing.

Once arriving, however, we were all a bit surprised by how many people were there (the entire restaurant was filled, with what I would guess to be over 100 people), and that the karaoke was playing over the sound system for everyone to hear.  Definitely intimidating, so I decided to submit a song request before I thought too long and hard about it.  It was Will’s birthday after all, and the least we could do was perform the most incredible song of all time for him.

Waiting for our turn

Before you know it they were calling for ‘Janice and Snooky’ over the loud speaker and we made our way to the front.  The big takeaway from last night’s karaoke was again the importance of song choice and performance.  While not the best singers in the house (I speak for myself, anyways.  Snook was pretty fabulous), but ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ pumps up the crowd every time.  People all over were singing along and getting into it right along with us.  That in combination with Snooky’s awesome performance, and our clear passion for the song, led to awesome crowd response.

During the 12 measure break mid-song (it’s a LONG song) we announced that it was dedicated to our good friend Will Bradley, who just turned 75, and the entire restaurant burst into applause.  Serious applause.  Not half-assed, I know I should clap, applause.  There was whistling, screaming, and extended clapping.  It felt awesome, and I was so happy that Will could feel the love, and how cool it is to be 75.

After the performance finished we headed back to the table and lots of people wished him a happy birthday on the way.  While the performance/singing may not be a 10, the experience of performing in front of that many people, to celebrate Will’s birthday, was pretty incredible.  THAT was definitely a 10

Until next time, I’ll be practicing…

Maggiano’s Celebration!

After finishing up (almost) all of my first semester in grad school, we decided to head to one of my favorite restaurants for a bit of end-of-semester celebrating.  If you haven’t ever been to Maggiano’s before, go.  Ever since college when I dragged my parents there every time they visited, I can’t get enough.  The delicious (and unlimited, I might add) bread, the incredible pasta dishes, reasonable prices (unless you go family style) and best of all, their profiteroles.  Absolute best dessert of all time.

Made with their homemade profiteroles, with vanilla ice cream in the middle, warm chocolate sauce drizzled on top, and fresh, real, whipped cream on the side.  I LOVE THEM.

So when they had Chocolate Peppermint Profiteroles on the specials menu last night, I couldn’t resist.  We split one and it was the perfect dessert.  I genuinely can’t come up with a thing wrong with it.  I was a bit hesitant about the chocolate profiterole versus the classic plain, but it went PERFECTLY with the peppermint ice cream in the center.  Whipped cream was as good as I remember, and all in all it was the perfect finish.  I’m glad I saved room

The rest of the meal was fabulous as well (I even ventured off my classic list of favorites), but this was definitely worth it’s own rating.

Off to do some Friday afternoon babysitting, and then to throw Will a 75th birthday celebration with lasagna, cake and karaoke at Champps!

MOST. PRODUCTIVE. DAY. EVER.

Seriously guys.  While there’s always a lot to do, I can think of way too many days where I lacked serious motivation, laid down with Murph ‘just for a sec’ (which turns into an hour long nap), or wasn’t nearly as focused on schoolwork as I should have been.  The fact that I make my own schedule (literally all my work asides from baby-sitting and classes is done when I want to, assuming I get it done within a certain time frame) can lead to a pretty sweet situation, but also the need for a lot of structure.  Thanks to my awesome action planning skills from Teach For America, I do a pretty decent job of planning my week and days out, even down to the hours I’m doing what, to make sure it all gets done.

BUT, now that classwork isn’t part of the equation, and I only had four hours of video tagging work to do this week, it’s the perfect chance to catch up on life.  Check out the productivity today…

• Took the dogs on three walks (totaling about an hour)
• Went grocery shopping
• Cleaned the kitchen (like SERIOUSLY cleaned… under all the appliances, removed the stove top, soaked and scrubbed, etc.)



• Cleaned my desk area (wishing I had taken a before picture so you could understand the size of this task)



• Cleaned out all my first semester binders/books/folders
• Baked a two-layer cake (first one ever!)



• Cleaned out two junk drawers (AND found a missing diamond earring from a year ago!!!  SERIOUS 10.  I lost one at a kickball game, and put the other in my bookbag.  Then, the following week I found the lost one in the dirt at the field, totally by accident, and then could no longer locate the original.  Saddest story ever but it now has a happy ending!!!)



• Cleaned my room (folded and put away the always growing pile on the floor)
• Cleaned out my fridge (GROSS… got rid of a bunch of old/moldy food.  No fun.)



• Cleaned out my car (again, kinda gross.  Left a cooler in there from the trip home from Thanksgiving that still contained food in it…)
• Made a vegetable lasagna for Will’s 75th birthday celebration tomorrow
• Made this year’s Smith Family Smackdown t-shirts
• Finished a couple other home made Christmas gifts (can’t describe in detail, as they might be for people reading…)
• Wrapped all my Christmas gifts (that’s right, I have completely finished shopping, making and wrapping.  SO different from last year!)



• Four hours of video tagging
• Worked out
• Updated the blog (Yes friends, this counts.  Writing this incredible doesn’t always come easily/quickly.)

I rate this a HUGE 10 as I feel awesome!!!!  Now I’m off to celebrate the end of finals!

Homemade Christmas Gifts

I came home yesterday to find this on my bedroom floor.

While perhaps unrecognizable to many, this is a Christmas gift I made over Thanksgiving.  Actually, I’ve removed the gift from the picture (to keep it a secret for any readers it may or may not have been for) and this is just the wrapping paper.

That’s right, while gone Murphy pulled my bag of gifts off my desk, used his brilliant Beagle nose to find the one containing edible insides, unwrapped the gift, and began to eat it.  Yes, he ate part of the gift. Just to clarify, the gift was not food.  It was made with edible parts, but it was not meant to (ever) be eaten.  I suppose it serves me right for making a gift out of anything a dog might enjoy.

Oddly Murphy was nowhere to be found…

I rate this a 1, solely for entertainment value.  I can’t help but laugh at his antics sometimes, even though it means coming up with some new Christmas ideas in the next week and a half.

Murph later making friends with Clawed the Eagle, AU's awesome mascot. And by 'making friends' I clearly mean attempting to chew a hole in him. I rescued him 10 seconds after I took this picture.