Winter in the midwest is one of those weird scenarios where you almost need snow and greenery (either fake or real, your choice) to be able to know it's the season. Because lemme tell ya, as stands, I look out my office window and it sure as shit doesn't look like winter. Green grass, cloudy sky, and lots of dead trees. But the trees across the street, while dead and bare, are covered in little red berries that have endured the recent wind storms so that's a nice little pop of color to have in the day. Aside from sight, I do know it's winter on account of my fingers and how cold they are as I write this.
Today we were supposed to have these guys out that were going to brace the basement walls, further compounding the notion that our landlord will probably be moving home next summer and Derek and I will be out of a home. To buy or not to buy, that is the question! The guys were supposed to be here at 9:30 to start work; drilling through the basement walls and attaching these big metal plates to them, then connecting poles to plates they are burying in the back yard. What a headache. Not just the chore for them, but because they didn't get here until noon and I have been a prisoner in the house all day. So what better time than to write a blog and commit myself to producing fresh material for you all to read?
My thoughts too. Allow me to pour myself a glass of wine and continue.
Derek got to endure my annoying perfectionism at its finest last weekend when we went to cut down our first Christmas tree together. I say first, despite this being our third Christmas, because he had no part in it the first year (just came over later that day to hang out), and last year we got our tree from Home Depot. Which means a) it wasn't a real tree because b) it just didn't count and c) that's science. Being in the Midwest has its charms in that cut-your-own tree farms are plentiful, especially when it comes to the Fraser and Balsam Firs, respectively. And that's what I wanted.
Now last year we paid about $85 to take a tree from a parking lot, covered by a tent and smelling like fake pine room spray and motor oil. We could have gone to cut our own down but the variety in the area was... lacking... and I wanted what I wanted. This shouldn't surprise anybody. We packed into Bernice and made the drive north, only half an hour (not bad!) and it was a good day for driving because there was a ton of fog and everything looked kind of magical.
Except the tree farm.
If you've ever driven by the stockyards in California, picture that. Driving out into a field of black mud, expansive and filled with tire tracks of pooled muddy water. To be fair, when Derek called to make sure they were open the gentleman running the joint said yes and to come early because the ground was still frozen. As soon as it thaws, it's a muddy mess. So we were warned and to also be fair, we didn't end up too muddy. The car kinda did. So we parked and walked around and I took the above picture because at first glance, it was perfect.
But it was like a monet, where everything is lovely from a distance and then you get up close and it's a big fartin' mess. Too thin, lopsided, full of weird pinecone things, crooked, too short, too skinny. I can go on. After about twenty minutes of marching around in the snow, Derek and I chose (settled on) one, I got out the saw, and cut it down. We stuffed her in the back of Bernice and probably could have just left without paying because they had no security and no way of knowing who paid for what, but we were good souls and stopped to pay. Half the price of Austin!
I finished the bottle of wine already )c:
After getting the tree decorated and prancing around the house watching Christmas Vacation, Derek and I went to Target to buy the necessary supplies for the much anticipated (...) competition. Ladies and germs, I give you:
The 2016
Second Annual
Gingerbread House
COMPETITION
The contest grew out of a statement Derek made last year when he told me that he could make a better gingerbread house than i could. Me loving a challenge, we purchased identical gingerbread house kits and spent an evening putting them together, shielded by a box between us. We posted the side-by-side picture and let all of you vote. And I won ::tosses hair::
This year we decided to up the ante a little bit. Still using the same house kits, as we did last year, we each had an additional $25 to buy extra food supplies to create our respective visions. We were allowed to purchase ONE object that was not food to include if we wanted to. A week later, we spent a quiet Sunday listening to music and constructing our creations. The prize? If I won, Derek had to watch the Twilight Saga without complaining. If Derek won, I had to do any snow shoveling in the month of December by myself.
Good thing I won.
Derek was a great sport about it though and in the end, it was just a nice time to listen to Christmas music and spend the day together. I was ailing from a quick 'bout of being sick and didn't want to do much else anyway, so spending four hours in the kitchen being creative was just what the doctor ordered.
I know the snow will come sooner rather than later, but I'm content with waiting. Last year it was such a long drag of winter with really nothing to show for it. We went through the motions but it just didn't feel like the yuletide joy we, or at least I, had appreciated so much before. I'm glad I can feel it this year. It's a simple thing, really, but one you don't think you'll miss until it's gone.
So with that being said it's just two weeks until Christmas. Then my birthday, New Years Eve, and 2017 just hop-skip from that. This year took a long time to wrap up, always so quickly though when it gets to be the end. I'll see you in a couple weeks with a few more blogs!
Ciao for now (c;
