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Happy Thanksgiving! (a little late)

My family came to visit us for Thanksgiving this year and it was awesome (and exhausting)!  We had a really good time and our first attempt at a Thanksgiving feast turned out really well.  The turkey was delicious and so were the other dishes.  Besides doing a lot of eating and washing of dishes, we did get out of the house some too.  My mom, sister, and I went to the movies and saw Breaking Dawn Part 1 one evening and it was really good!  The whole gang went to the zoo on Friday afternoon and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  Then on Saturday it was rainy and dreary, so the highlight of the day was family photos! (Or maybe it was playing Guitar Hero for hours with my mom and husband.)  Anyway, I spent many hours crocheting these scarves for a few of the pictures and they were all good sports and wore them!  So it was one of the best Thanksgivings I have had in a while.  Here is one of the pictures we took on Saturday at Confetti Photography.  I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

The Neverending Project Room

The last room to be painted before the holidays is now done.  It only took a little over forever a month.  I dubbed the room the "neverending project room" (to be sung to the theme of the movie, The Neverending Story) because every time I thought we were going to finish, something happened that prevented the project from being complete.  But now, it is finished!  Well, mostly.  There are a couple minor things that need some attention.  Anyway, here are some before and after pictures. 

This is the computer room that is right at the top of the stairs in our house.  This is how it looked shortly after we moved in.  The 2-color walls are accented with a grapes border, and then the curtains are some floral pattern.  I'm not sure who thought this whole combination looked good.

This is the same corner of that room now!  The color is called Sugared Lemon, and it really is a warm-toned yellow color that I love.  I decided to accent with red curtains because I just like the way that looks. 

This is another before shot by the actual staircase railing.

This is the staircase area now.  I painted the baseboards the same color as the walls in this room because they are all different sizes for some unknown reason.  I like the way it looks.

Texas is one of 50 states

So today is Veterans' Day and we had a little program at school this morning.  They were playing some patriotic music before the program started, as the kids were coming in and getting breakfast.  One of the kids that I had last year came up to me and asked me if I liked that music.  I said, "Of course I do, I am proud to be American."  She then asked me where I was born and when I told her I was born in Kansas she exclaimed, "You are not an American!"

Good grief. 

I then explained to her that Kansas is a state in the United States of America, just like Texas is a state.  She then asked me where Kansas is located, and I explained that.  She then looked at me with a straight face and said, "That's why you have that accent.  You have an accent."  And she walked away.

Really?!  When I first moved to Texas I was asked all the time where I was from because I wasn't twangy like everyone else in East Texas.  Not long after I would go back home and be told how "country" I sounded.  So I think I am stuck in accent limbo.  In Kansas I sound like a hick now, and here I still get called "Yankee" from time-to-time by adults and now kids.  I just can't win. 

The Postcard Project

My friend, Veronica, who is an awesome cook (it's true, I've had her enchiladas, cake, and cookies!) and posts tons of tasty looking recipes over at Veronica's Cornucopia is also an employee of the United States Postal Service.  She has started "The Postcard Project" to spread joy and support the USPS at the same time.  I have signed up and am going to try to send a few pieces of mail each week and encourage you to check it out and do the same.  You can go to the link on her blog, or click on the button on the side of my blog (under the email subscription box).  Check it out! 

FaceTime is Awesome-sauce!

Ok, I have been an Apple fan for a while.  Their products are so easy to use and are just spiffy overall. (No, Apple doesn't compensate me for my opinions.)  So after 2 1/2 years of rockin' an iPhone 3GS, I decided to upgrade when the 4S was announced (though I'm sure it will be out-of-date next summer, as is what seems to happen in the world of Apple...for a fairly accurate representation of what it's like to own Apple products, go here: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apple).

Anyway, I know I am late to the FaceTime party because iPhone 4 users have had that for over a year.  But the other night I finally got to try it!  My sister, who lives 500 miles away, also has an iPhone.  We did a FaceTime call and it was so awesome to actually see her in real time!  I was rather impressed with the sound quality on speaker phone, and the video only lagged once on my end (I don't know about on hers).  I remember being little and hearing that "in the future" people would be able to make video calls, and if you watch Spaceballs or Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, you can see what I imagined video calls would look like.  So I am super-excited that the future has arrived.  Text messages and emails are fine, but sometimes it is good to actually see the other person, when you don't get to but a few times a year.

Random Randomness

I haven't posted in a while because I have been super busy with school.  Things are still going well.  A few kids are trying my patience, but they are still pretty good overall.  I can't believe it is already the middle of October (probably since it's still HOT outside)! One funny moment this week was shared with me by a co-worker.  She just got her hair colored a new color and it looks really nice.  She said a student walked up to her and was complimenting her appearance and telling her she looked so nice that she looked just like Mrs. Beck!  I thought that was pretty hilarious, yet flattering I guess.  (By the way, she got her hair colored a shade of brunette, and I am still as blonde as ever.)  And let me just say I learn the most interesting things on Fridays, when I have my kids free write in their journals.  Two words...hillbilly hand-fishing.

In other news...we cut down two trees in our front yard that were right next to the house.  The smaller one had already broken in half a few years back and was pretty pathetic.  The other tree was 60-70 feet tall and leaning right towards our house.  This drought made me more nervous about this tree than I had been before.  So we got it cut down and then spent two weekends hauling away the remains.  Part of the trunk was rotting on the inside, so I am glad it is down.  I just really miss the shade.

We are still working on some painting and repairs on the inside of the house.  We are on the last room to paint!!! (Well, besides the living room...I forgot about that.) The hubs needs to cement the wall so we can finish painting it and then I will post some pictures.  Hopefully by Thanksgiving we will have everything around here in pretty good shape.  We aren't having our Halloween party this year because the hubs really isn't in the Halloween spirit this year.  There are so many other projects around the house to work on.  Besides, with the burn ban we can't have all the special effects and fires we usually have.  But he mentioned he has some big plans for Christmas lights this year...that makes me excited!  :)

Last random note...I pre-ordered the new iPhone 4S last week and it arrived today, on the first day of sales!  I am super-excited about it because before I had the old 3GS and now I have FaceTime capabilities and hope to see my niece more via video calls!  Of course there are tons of other awesome features, but why bore you when you can google an article if you really wanted to?