The straw dilemma

So this is pretty pitiful, and probably not interesting to many... but I'd like to see what people think about this.

Every time I go to Chick Fil A, which is pretty much the only place I get take-out, they give me straws in the bag to go.  I take it home, and Jason and I don't use straws - we take the lids off and drink from the cup itself.  I hate to be wasteful though, so I put the straws in a drawer in the kitchen.  The other day, while searching for something else in that drawer, I got fed up with the mound of straws.  So I took them out, and I was amazed at the amount.  I've probably been keeping them for at least a year, and I don't even get take out food that much.  I started keeping them just as a thought of, "Hey, I might have some other use for them some day, or might run into a time when I need straws."  (Hahahahaha, right...)

So here's what came out...

I keep my asparagus rubber bands... I rather think the straws now rather fondly resemble asparagus from the store...

These picture actually don't make it look so bad.  But I promise, I was having issues even holding them all at once.  They were OVERFLOWING in my kitchen drawer, where they probably took up 80-90% of the space.

As far as I know, straws aren't recyclable, which is sad, because I'd have many to throw that way.  So does anybody need a bunch of straws?  I just hate throwing things away.  And how do I stop the pile from growing even more?  Do I hand them back every time after fishing them out of the bag while in line at the drive thru before I pull away?  Can I take my asparagus bunch of straws back to Chick Fil A every now and then and tell them I don't need them?  Or maybe just throw them into the straw container at the condiment counter? :-) Should I tell them as I order my food that I don't need straws?  Haha, because those people are so speedy that I don't even have time to do that when I pull up to the window before I get my bag handed out to me.

So what to do with the extra?

My favorite Christmas commercial

Just thought I'd share it... I think most people have probably seen this many times.  It's been around as long as I can remember, and it comes on every year.  I used to play handbells too, so it's fun in that respect.  My favorite part is the little sigh of exhaustion at the end. :-)



(Those of you on FB will need to go to the blog to see the video...)

I gave in to the holidays

So I've been a total blog slacker.  Not without reason though - I am getting married in just a few short weeks, after all.  I hope things will slow down significantly after that, but somehow I have a feeling that they won't anyway.  We shall see.

Well, I know I complained about everybody and their brother bringing out Christmas way too early, even before Halloween for goodness sake!  But last week something got into me and I finally gave in.  I figured it's a week out, it's ok.  So I went upstairs, moved the stuff away from the wall, and opened the little door to the lovely attic crawl space that is such a *great* perk of apartment living (you know what I'm talking about... the little child-size doors that open to a dark space of plywood and insulation up under the roof, which serves as your "storage space").  I tried to hold my breath as much as possible to avoid all the dust as I continued to get aggravated at the lack of storage space, as I always do.  After pulling out numerous boxes, bags, and bins, I finally found a few things worth keeping out.

My first item on the agenda was the lighted garland.  Here is the final result (this is something I usually do each year, so it was an easy choice to pull out)...

(Forgive the cell phone photos... these are of the stair railing.)

The little bow is either from my mom or one of the grandmothers, I can't recall... but I think it's fun.  Cute Santas are always fun.

Thank goodness I'd kept all the garland in a box together, along with the bow.  I even labeled the box before I put it away last year - probably knowing how annoyed I would get trying to find it again if I didn't do so.

I usually have a mid-sized tree I'll put up, but I decided against pulling all that out this year.  At my bridal shower a few weeks ago, they had a little tree, and everyone brought different snowflake ornaments to put on it.  It turned out beautifully, and it's also very special to me now since so many people contributed to it.  So I decided just to put that up in my place instead of the big tree this year.  Here it is...

All the snowflakes are from family and friends.  There are even some famiy heirlooms on there that have been handmade and around for a very long time, so it's a great keepsake.  And I've got a tree up now. :-)

That's all I did last week, but everyone around here was hanging up wreaths on their doors, so I decided to go dig mine out too on Sunday.  The wreath was in its own box.  But I had to do MUCH searching, digging, box shifting, and sneezing before finding the hanger.  Unfortunately, for some reason, it was put up in a big bin labeled "Christmas Stuff" - haha, what was I thinking?  THAT's a title that's going to help me out a lot.  Anyway, here ya go (bow credit to my mom, hehe)...

So, that's it for the Christmas decorations.  There are about 10 more boxes of stuff I could drag out up in that darn little storage area, but I wasn't going through that hassle this year.  I also gave in to some hints by a certain someone who really wanted some sausage balls, so they got baked this weekend as well.  I even find myself stopping on the Christmas radio station every now and then to hear the rest of the song.  Most still get on my nerves, since it's all basically the same set of songs done over and over different ways by different people... but hey, I guess that's just something to deal with.

Honestly, I truly hope everyone is having a good holiday season.  Spend time with the people who are important to you, and make sure they know that.  Remember the true reason that we celebrate Christmas, which is our Lord.  It's easy to get swept up in the holiday craziness all around us, so just make sure you take a few steps back and keep it all in perspective with what (and who) is really important to you. :-)

Grease

Just had to share that I'm sitting here on my couch, working on wedding plans, and watching Grease...  and laughing...  and singing along (haha, should I be embarrassed about that?)...  Greased Lightening just went off.  What makes me laugh even more than the movie itself and all of them dancing and flying around is the fact that I know all the words.

The Martins, Acapella

So in my search to find the name for that hymn the chimes played last night that I just can't remember for the LIFE of me, I've been scrounging around the internet for lists of hymns from hymn books and all.  For some reason, a song rang a bell in my head that I know well from years ago.  My grandparents like the Gaithers, and I grew up with a lot of the hymns and songs they sang.  So yes, I'm a gospel fan. :-) With my parents, we had some CDs of music from some absolutely amazing groups that would perform on there.  This was one of them... their performance of "The Doxology."  I found videos of them on youtube, and I've been sitting here for over an hour, while I wrote the last post, listening to their various songs.  It captures me.  It's just incredible what these people can do with their voices.  I don't care what kind of music you like - you can't deny the beauty in this harmony and in the amazing talent they have.  It gives me goosebumps.  Plus, the message in itself and the song are beautiful already on their own.  (Tip:  Seriously, don't watch... just listen first.)



If you want more, check this next one out from the same group... totally different feel and is a bit bouncy at the beginning, but the last half is insane.  Gospel doesn't get much better than this.

Haha, and a hilarious tip from a comment at the bottom - check out Mark Lowry at 1:36. :-)



And now, I must go to bed... with some great music in mind.  (By the way - I enjoy this in my head MUCH more than Christmas music!!  Yes, I'm still putting it off as long as possible! :-) )

Thanksgiving and more

I'm thankful for so many things I've been blessed with in my life. I often find myself thinking how thankful I am for even the smallest things... Like my fuzzy slippers that keep my ice-cold feel warm (speaking of... I just reminded myself to go get them!)... Or the little toaster oven that can bake just a few cookies in under 15 minutes from start of preheat to eating time... Or the dimmer switch in my bathroom that my handy man so nicely installed for me (after months of me begging him to grab one and put in, hehe) so I don't blind myself in the mornings with crazy-insane bright lights... who ever thought that was a good idea anyway?? It's so much better to get ready in the half-dark bathroom. :-) At least it is for my eyes.

Anyway, back to the subject. Small things are so important. But the big things have the huge impact. One of the things I am most thankful for in this life is family. Mine is incredibly supportive, loving, caring, funny, and so great to be around... and that's extended family as far out as I've ever met. Not much goes on around here without family being present... holidays, of course, being a primary example.

This year's Thanksgiving was a little different schedule than we're used to, but so far, it's been a blast. We're actually having another get-together tomorrow, so a few of us are getting two Thanksgivings, haha. Yesterday was hanging out with the Ezzell clan, and I so enjoyed it all. I absolutely love my family, and I mean that in all honesty. It's just good to spend time with people.

So, now that the sappy part is out of the way, here's a little photo-story of Thanksgiving, yesterday...

(All that really happened prior to this photo, that's worth mentioning, was before we even got out of the car at the grandparents' house. Jacob and I went earlier than everybody else, so I could make my casserole and we could hang out with them a bit. As we turned onto the street they live on, my heart jumped into my throat at the sight of a fire truck down at the next block. I know my eyes are bad, but I always think the worst, and it certainly did look to be near their house. Jacob, always casual and unassuming, assured me it was nothing. Turns out, the truck was actually at the house right next door to the grandparents' house. The guys were in the process of leaving, and nothing appeared to be wrong. Haha Grandmom didn't even know they'd been there, so there obviously wasn't a big to-do. Thank goodness. So we proceeded with our morning. :-) )

I made my casserole at Grandmom's...

While the guys did the usual... :-)

Dad did come play Turkey Carver for a while...

So I took Dad's place in the hang-out room...

Took a few pictures before the meal...

This is actually my only food plate shot... this is one of Jacob's "pose" faces - haha, I promise he really was having a good time :-) ...

I got evidence of everybody chowin' down...

Jacob and I took our usual places at the "kids" table (as it will probably always be called) - no worries, we still like it...

Got a shot of the dessert spread (and a dog trying to be sneaky) before we dug in...

All we Ezzells have our quirks... Alli's is apparently a love of mac and cheese (we already knew that one!) alongside chocolate dessert... (no worries, she did at least admit that the bites with both tasted strange, haha)...

And a nice shot before we left...

And along with dessert always comes the time to sit around and have good conversation. I like getting little slice-of-life videos, and I grabbed one of a funny story here. Dad is talking about the happenings of their wedding day - Granddad had to go into surgery that same day, so Mom and Dad left from the wedding, in all the attire, and drove straight down the Interstate all the way to see Granddad... and headed right into the ER after hours to go find his room.

As we were seeing Connie and Steve and the girls off outside, the 6:00 bells began to chime at the church down the street. This is something my dad grew up hearing, as they ring hymns every day at 6PM. It's such a beautiful sound... I captured a bit of some of them. It was dark out, so the video might be boring if you don't like hymns. But I grew up with so many of them in church, and all of these were ones I knew by heart. I loved sitting out there last night and listening to them. Since it was Thanksgiving Day, they added an additional fourth song, since they usually only play three. Yesterday's selections were fitting... "Because He Lives," a song I'm racking my brain for but can't remember for the lift of me, "In the Garden," and "How Great Thou Art." These videos are of the last two, in respective order.

So that's about it for Thanksgiving 2009, Part 1. Part 2 comes tomorrow.

Today was an interesting break inbetween the two. Last year was one of the few years I've ever actually gotten up early and fought the crowds to get some Black Friday deals, and I definitely scored on some stuff then (although I basically got all Christmas shopping done then!). I'm trying to not spend much this time around though, despite the fact that there are SO many good deals, and so many things I'd like to have. So in my typical sales paper browsing I do on Thanksgiving Day, I made a list of the few items I was looking for. And last night, I was thrilled to find that many of the places I was considering going today had everything online too. So I was able to get one item I wanted online. I ended up able to get up and take my time this morning, and Jason and I headed out late morning to check out a few things. Wolf Camera was a cinch, and they even let you order the items that are out of stock in the store at the sale price... I love it when stores don't pull the rip-off with the fine print (3 minimum per store, no rainchecks... blah blah blah). Kohls was a different story... I only wanted a few clothes items, so I walked towards the line areas with said items in hand. Haha, I think my jaw probably dropped when I saw the line. It was INSANE. I honestly can't believe people were waiting in it - some only had a few shirts or what not. Haha, so I promptly turned around and put the items back. Jason had dropped me off, and was so ready to get out of the parking lot - apparently it was a mad house. And this was even at 1:00... guess people were trying to make the doorbuster deadline, haha. The mall was even worse... so we stopped and called it a day.

Something noteworthy did present itself before our first stop today. We parked right in front of the camera store, next to the sidewalk. There was a man there tending to his baby in a stroller, and there was a puppy right next to them, with his leash tied to the bench. The man was kind of grinning at the dog but not interacting, which I found odd. When we came back out of the store, the man was gone, but the puppy was still there, confirming my thought that the dog didn't belong to the man.  A few people walking by kept crouching down to pet it a while, but then would get up and keep on walking. I kind if asked aloud to Jason what we could do, because someone obviously had left it or was too busy with their shopping to make arrangements for their dog. We left, because people kept stopping and tending to the dog. I was pretty worried (aka ticked off) though... animal cruelty and negligence is something I don't take lightly at all. I won't get into all that... but it just makes me angry - no matter if someone actually left the dog there on purpose, knowing that a kind stranger would take care of what they're too lazy to do themselves... or if someone was just so incompetent and uncaring that they decided to tie up their puppy while they did a little shopping or had lunch in a nice heated restaurant. I don't care, there's no excuse. We had lunch nearby, so we drove back by afterwards to check. I was fully prepared to pull the guilt trip and at least beg Jason to drive us to take the dog to the SPCA adoption center if it was still there, because it certainly didn't deserve to go back to the people who left it there, even if they did plan to come back. (Yes, I had already jokingly mentioned "rescuing" the puppy ourselves, and let it become part of our family... and how it could conveniently save us adoption fees in the dog we eventually want to get, haha... and that "joke" was quite denied... oh well, in due time.) Thankfully, the puppy wasn't there any more. I'm happy that it's at least out of the cold. I can only hope that it's with somebody more responsible now. If I could have, I would have had no problem taking that dog home without even a note left on the bench. I just pray he's happy, warm, and cozy - it's reeeeally getting cold out tonight!

Hope everyone had a great holiday yesterday and is getting to enjoy a long weekend...

Random musings of the day...

Just a few of my thoughts from today...

There are just certain days that it seems like the stupid people come out on the road... all at the same time. Or, as I also like to say, everybody wore their stupid hats.  Today was one of those days.  Hmm, random braking all over the interstate - seems like a good idea to me!  Swerving all over the place, especially a few feet from my bumper - always fun for all!  Sheesh...

I also was reminded today of just how lazy people can be.  I was working on entering paper surveys, and it just amazes me how few people actually write legibly and make sense of their words and thoughts.  I was able to decipher most of it pretty well, but it is frustrating to spend so much time doing that when all it would take is them taking 2 more seconds to write so that somebody else could read it.  But it just reminds me of how lazy and conditioned the world has become, with each person being allowed to think it's all about them, and that's all that matters.  It would be such a better place to live if everyone stepped back a little from that.  And I truly believe you get what you give.

And lastly, if you live in the Triangle area and are not ready for Christmas spirit, do NOT (repeat, DO NOT) go to the following radio stations:  106.1, 101.5, 102.9 and 99.5.  (Am I missing any??)  Surprisingly, 93.9 has not joined in yet. Maybe they figure everyone else is doing enough already and they're just going to stick with their normal continual Christmas during all of December.  I found all this out today by flipping through the preset stations in the car, trying to find some normal music, making sure to avoid hitting 106.1, as I found that one out yesterday MORNING (yes, a Monday morning... that was fun).  So while channel surfing today, I changed over to my rarely-used FM2 presets.  Loved the surprise when even 2 of those had jumped on the wagon.  So I had to break out the CDs.  Seriously, are all the stations going to have a monopoly come December and make us listen to NOTHING but Christmas music?

Aaaaand to top it all off, the TV commercials on right now are all playing Christmas music.  YAY.  Same thing happened last night - I had Jingle Bells stuck in my head, which of course isn't going to fly.  So I had to go rock out to some real music before bed, just so I wouldn't fade into winter wonderland and dream of Christmas yet.

I'll leave you with one of those truly awesome songs... always makes everything better. :-)