Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is usually a time for family to get together and share a meal. Well when my husband and I got married our first thanksgiving was spent on our honeymoon. Since then we have decided that should be our tradition (not be on a honeymoon as awesome as that would be! but to spend it just with one another). This solved the drama of which family to choose to spend it with or having to drive 100+ miles to see both families.

So this year we again had Thanksgiving at home just the two of us. It was a perfect day! We made delicious food, watched movies, and just enjoyed each others company. Now while we are very happy with this arrangement, my in laws are less happy about it. They feel we should be there and are not keen on us having our own traditions. So in a very sneaky way my Mother in Law managed to have Thanksgiving 2.0 on Friday at our house. She called and asked if just her and her husband could come over on Friday to hang out. We said, fine. Then one sister was added, then the other. The suddenly 4 hours before dinnertime we found out the whole family (10 adults, 2 kids) were now coming at dinnertime expecting a meal. 

So we had Thanksgiving 2.0. We just bought some bread for sandwiches and put our leftovers out. I did not want to go overboard since feeding 10 people seemed a bit much with 4 hours notice and we did have leftovers. Overall, it was an interesting night filled with family and family arguing but it did remind me of thanksgivings of the past. 

I love our new traditions of a just us thanksgiving but I feel I will have to also learn to accept a thanksgiving 2.0, and I think I can. I mean we do get 2 days off of work. Next year, I will make sure my family is invited as well (too short notice this year to give my family a heads up) and we will just have the whole family day and all the drama that comes with it. That is what the Holidays are about right? :) 

3 Years

3 years ago I married my my best friend. The day started out terrible as there were wildfires everywhere and it was literally raining ash but I knew that no matter what was happening outside by the end of the day I would be with my best friend and love of my life and nothing could be better. We got really lucky and the wind died down and the ash stopped falling and we got a unseasonably warm November day and a beautiful sunset.

Everyone talks about how the wedding day is the best day of your life. And it really was an amazing day, I couldn't have asked for better but I feel like each day since gets better and better. I mean we have had our disagreements but I know at the end of the day I will look over and he will be there and all will be right with the world.

I can't believe it has already been 3 years. It feels like I was on that beach in Malibu just yesterday and yet here we are three years later, happier and more in love than ever! :)

11.11.11

I have always liked the number 11. Most likely because I was born on an 11 and have grown an attachment to it. But I feel like the number 11 brings me luck so today being all 11 makes me feel that today will be a lucky day! It is already off to a good start because it is Friday! I am also going to visit my best friend who has finally moved home from being on the other side of the country. While I have to take the train because my husbands car is still in the shop it will give me time to read and relax!

So here is to hoping that 11.11.11 is a lucky day : ) We have only one more of these type of day's left 12.12.12 that we will see for a very long time!

Halloween

So last night was our first Halloween in our new house. It is the suburbs so I was really hopeful we would have a lot of trick or treaters! I decorated the house, set out all the pumpkins, and bought a TON of candy! I even put on my costume to get in the festive Halloween mood. Once all the happened I waited... and waited... and started getting a little sad since no kids had shown up yet.

My husband asked how many kids needed to show up for me to not be sad. I randomly said 20. It seemed like an ok number and realistic. Well we got exactly 20! While I wish we had more I can't really complain because we got the exact number I asked for! Those were a lucky 20 kids because they got big handfuls of candy!

Hopefully next year will bring more kids! We guess our house before had a reputation for not giving good candy so I am going to change that and make our house the one to go to!

On a side note: Still not able to drive my car as we still do not know what to do with my husband's car. It is still sitting in the shop and we know will cost at least $7,000 if not more. We looked at cars on the weekend but not sure what to get and if it is worth trading in and if we could really even trade it in. So still at a loss at what to do.

Plans

Don’t you love when you make plans and then God looks and them and goes HAHA nice try…

I said this to my husband this past weekend as we were stranded on the freeway in his dead car. His car had just been paid off and I just bought a new one (so we only had one payment at a time). I was really excited for my new car which should be coming in any day now and we expected my husband’s car to last at least another 4-5 years.

So we were driving on the freeway going up a hill and started hearing this weird thunking noise. It started to get worse so we started to pull over so we could get off the freeway. Suddenly when we were in the far right lane the car started making this jack hammering noise! Suddenly on the freeway exit lane the car shudders and dies. Luckily my husband yanked the wheel and got us over to the shoulder. So I call AAA and we wait in the heat for 45 minutes to get picked up.

We finally get picked up from the tow truck and started our drive back home. Halfway through the ride I see a bee (a really creepy mutant bee that is translucent!) on the windshield inside the car! I try not to freak as I am sitting right by the driver and don’t want to panic him as he is driving us. The bee finally flies away and I cannot see him anymore. Suddenly, the driver screams out and starts to panic! The bee just landed on his hand! He quickly rolls down the window and the bee disappears… so we thought! About 5 minutes pass and the driver freaks out again! It landed on his hand for the second time and after more freaking out we are sure we got it out this time. Well another 5 minutes pass and the driver reaches out and grabs his back and swears the bee is there. He is now driving with one hand grabbing his back and one hand on the wheel… he finally pulls over to get the bee out. Luckily, after that there were no more bee incidents!

We get to the tow place which looks like the sketchiest tow place ever and leave the car. I have been calling Honda to see if my car is ready and was told no (which I knew it wouldn’t be ready till Monday but thought I would try!). For my car I also did a trade in for my current car which died a month ago and since we had a tow truck already I asked if he wouldn’t mind towing our other car. This got me a strange look but he agreed. I called Honda and they said we could bring the car over.

We get to Honda and they were not pleased to realize they gave me $1,000 for my car. I fully disclosed to our salesperson the state of the car so not my fault they gave us that much! I then explained how we had no cars now and was calling a rental. They asked what I bought and when I said it they pointed and said that car? Yes! My car was in! The reason they said it was not ready was because not everything had been installed yet but since they said it looked like we were in dire need I could take the car now and bring it back later to get the rest of the stuff installed. So at least there was one positive.

But getting my new car was not quite the exciting moment I thought it would be. I still have to walk to work because my husband has my car because his work is farther. His car apparently needs a new engine which is $6,000 and of course the warranty JUST ended. So now we have to figure out what to do about that… God is laughing indeed. 

Dead Car

My New Honda CR-V

Grading

I feel like I am really getting into the swing of things now for my class. Their first assignment was due and majority of them turned in their paper early! It was really interesting to be on the other side regarding papers. I am used to writing them in a panic and hoping that the professor will like what I wrote. It was very odd opening up the first paper knowing I needed to judge and grade it. Most of the students did really well and I was impressed with what they had done. I did have one student who did not follow the prompt at all. Of course this was the first paper I graded so I was discouraged at first to see that everything I asked for was not there! Luckily it was only one students and I sent it back with a non passing grade and told them to fix it if they want to pass. I also made sure to speak to them in class about what was wrong with the paper and what I was expecting. I think they get it now but we will see on their revision.

I also had to write up my observations of them in their site. Part of this is to mention weaknesses and areas for improvement. I normally do not like to critique people and want to be nice. It was really hard for me to write and speak to each student on areas to improve but I had to remind myself that by doing that I am helping them in their future career. And just because I am critiquing doesn't mean I can't be kind while doing it! And afterwards I even had someone thank me for the review!

TV

Sometimes I think I watch too much TV... but there is just so much good TV on I can't help myself! I figure since I am no longer in school and don't have kids yet it is OK to watch! Plus we still get outside a lot and I read enough that it counters all the TV :) and we only have one TV in our house so I feel its not that bad! Ok now that I have justified it to myself I will move on! haha

I feel like there were a bunch of new shows this year that got added. Which of course meant that a lot of shows got added to our DVR to test out!

I think my favorite of the new shows that I watched was New Girl. I thought it was cute, funny, and one of those good fluffy shows that don't make me think too hard. Now I do enjoy shows that make me think such as Fringe but I don't need every new show to do that!

I also really enjoyed Up All Night, Person of Interest, and Ringer. Also, started watching Terra Nova for my husband who had really high hopes for it as he loves dinosaurs. So far I have enjoyed the show. As long as you do not take it too seriously it is quite fun! Another one that I actually haven't been recording but have been watching on demand is Whitney. I heard a lot of people complaining about it which is actually what made me want to watch it and I thought it was pretty funny. It was funny because it was so real, I have either done or known people who done what she was doing. So to the haters... sorry I thought it was funny!

Now, I just hope that they all don't get cancelled! That is what happened to us last year, we found 3 great new shows totally loved them and then found out they got cancelled. So I am trying to not get too attached this year just in case!

So far I have kept up with Up All Night, New Girl, and Terra Nova. I have the rest on my DVR to catch up on a rainy day. Just in case I find out they get cancelled mid way I also will not have the heartbreak of being too attached!