The Week After
November 30th, 2007
Thanksgiving has come and gone at El Rancheo de Zombie - and what a memorable Thanksgiving weekend is was! No fancy dinner table or foo-foo foodie food shots… this is what you get - it’s how I roll.
Our super-duper nice neighbors across the street from us invited us over for Thanksgiving. Their guest list was 55 people… what’s three more, eh! Their guests included three or four film crews filming their Thanksgiving (they are filming a new “Deadliest Catch” style show here… but with logging/loggers). The T-man had invited some of his family over, so DS and I amused ourselves all day by peeking out of our windows and watching all the action and wishing we were there. I hope it all doesn’t end up on the cutting room floor.
And then the big moment came last Saturday night… the Seaside Yuletide Parade where T was the Grand Marshall! So very exciting and I was so, so, so proud. I ran into a friend and told her the T was the GM, and some guy overheard me and started in on me about how poorly the parade was advertised. I had to be nice and polite (I was Mrs. Grand Marshall - royality after all!), but jeeze… dude I’m sooo gonna blog about you! You found it didn’t you? You’re here, right? Peasants.
The T was asked to light the city Christmas tree as well. HOLY CRAP! But as he was up there with the MC, along comes this unshaven guy in what looks like red pajammas… and upstages him and throws the switch! The nerve. Didn’t catch the guy’s full name… Something Claus. Still very exciting though as T got to be in the spotlight with the bearded Pajamma Man.
Here we all are. On the left are George & Mary… our surrogate parents. Isn’t Georgie cute! He looks like a Lebanese gnome with his hoodie on. And then there’s my super hero, me, and our wonder-kid DS2. I know, I know… I don’t look like Izzy from Grey’s Anatomy that I tell everyone that I look like. Something was wrong with the camera (again!) and freaky thing… I ended up looking like Hurley with tits. What is wrong with your cameras people! Thank you for the wonderful photo Renee… even though I think your camera is broken.
With Turkey Day over, I have officially embraced the holiday season! I’m so buhhumbug about the early start of the season… the ads, the sales, blah, blah, blah. Sans Target though - I could watch the Target holiday commercials year round. I say it every year, “this year I’m going to decorate early”! And this year I did! Though I scaled way back - there’s some 5 jumbo Rubbermaid totes still full of stuff. I like to rotate a bit (that’s code for I’m effing lazy).
Another tradition we have, and it’s not a welcomed one - is our family tree controversy. I want faux… DS2 wants real. I just don’t have the heart to cut down a living tree that provides us with clean air, keeps our hill from slipping, is a jungle gym for squirrels, owls and birdies… and is just a magnificent living gift of beauty from Mama Nature. I know… pass the granola. Right in our own back yard we have our own Christmas trees to choose from… but I just couldn’t do it. I guess I’m like the dairy farmer who drinks soy milk. If you peek through the trees, you can see Paula’s house on the hill. Hi Paula! And if you peek out of Paula’s window you can see my house! All we need is a Zip-Line. And if you squint really, really, REALLY hard… you can see The Mountain.
Two points for me… another year of the faux tree and I’m as happy as a clam on a canceled dig. Now that we have a bigger living room (The Pit as we call it), I need a bigger tree. A nice fat n chubby one - unlike our current tree, Mary Kate. After Christmas sales… I’m watching you!
My cherry on the top Christmas decoration. We had a big one of these candle twirlly things at one time. I was fascinated with it as a child… and still fascinated with is as a pseudo adult. It’s in the attic somewhere. I got this little gem a few years ago when Target had their “Alpine” collection. My stuff is all very German and Swedish, so Target did me good that year. Last year too with Tord Boontje’s yummies. My image of Heaven is being surrounded by loved ones and it’s decorated with Tord and Alpine Christmas yummies. Oh, and Moda is up there too!
I have a thing for kitchen windows. I need to find a flickr group for that. I’m sure I’m not the only kitchen-window-weirdo. I hope. I’m not a big fan of this pop-out window (it’s on the honey-do list to be changed), but it is providing some good space for my holiday crap items-o-love (and an unwanted lounge for my two naughty cats). Just need to replace my purple plant thing with some little poinsettias.
Finally I can use the little dust catcher shelf above my cabinets! Merry Kitchenmas!
And speaking of my kitchen window… the other morning I panicked - thought there was a fire in the woods across the street. Turns out THAT BALL-O-FIRE I saw from my kitchen window was a glimmer of sunshine during a foggy morning sunrise. I have more pics of it here. It blew me away!
New Year’s Resolution #1dash2008: Shorter posts.
New Year’s Resolution #1dash2008a: More posts, less words.
New Year’s Resolution #2dash2008: Tell everyone before January comes that the Mimi’s Quilt-a-Long and Jingle Jolly galleries are open! (Under “Freebies” in my sidebar).
New Year’s Resolution #3dash2008: Don’t make resolutions in November for January.
New Year’s Resolution #4dash2008: Don’t make resolutions. Period.
And now I must nap. Seriously.
Posted in How I Live, I Heart Oregon |
Farting around with needle & thread and then blogging about it.
New to your blog, but I love it. I really laugh out loud when I read it. You named your skinny tree Mary Kate? Seriously? What are you going to name your fat one? You are a funny girl.
November 30th, 2007WHEW! That was a long one, but I enjoyed every second of it. Guess where I get to go tomorrow!! TRADER JOES!! I have a couple canvas bags, but I think I want one of those bright orange ones. Oh, I miss Uwajimaya. Next time you’re there, think of me so I can sorta be there. :)
I must say everyone in the picture looks fabulous. You look extra splendid. Your hair is getting long and it looks so pretty that way. :) D is TALL! Wowwee!!
The house looks so great. I can’t wait to see it in real life. But, of course, you know how I feel about your house..gift shop, love to be in it and touch everything, blah blah blah
Resolutions….they suck, don’t make any and please don’t shorten the posts. I love reading them. :) But, we haven’t seen the pups or kitties much lately, you could post a pic of their sweet little selves. :)
November 30th, 2007We finally get a picture of you Monica! LOVE your living room and have always wondered what to do with my “dustcatcher” above my cabinets. What a great idea - mind if I steal it? :)
November 30th, 2007Finally, no now don’t you dare shorten or lessen your posting in any way… ok? The house is fabulous, looks like a magazine. AND Hurley? OMG girl, you have drank that Kool-Aid!! Its a awesome picture. Congratulations, now go sew those buttons back on!!! That is pictue of the sun in the fog, it priceless. I’m awestruck, never have seen anything like that before!
November 30th, 2007Loved every bit of your post, and dont make them short, if people dont like reading, well bloody SKIM read I say!
I hope there is moda in heaven too, I am a moda whore…
Loved the christmas decorations.. my plans have been put away for this year but the cat attacked fake but environmentally friend tree is up, so I guess thats half of my work done!
take care
Lissa
November 30th, 2007Uh the tree Mary-Kate? YOU’RE FREAKING KILLING ME. Love all the photos, I want to just blow them up life size and run the little magnifying glass all over them. Love it all. I’ve done nothing unless you count the boxes of new ornaments on the dinner table. Kind of a stupid name for that table since we never eat there.
Santa needs to back the %#@& off .
November 30th, 2007xo
Woman, you always make laugh, even if you do think you are Hurley with tits.
November 30th, 2007Ouch!! I bumped my head when I fell out of my chair laughing!!! You do not look like Hurley w/ tits, but boy that was funny. I had barely recovered when I choked on my tea over your Mary-Kate Christmas tree. Please don’t shorten your posts, I’ll just strap myself in the chair next time and refrain from liquids :)
November 30th, 2007Wow!!!! Those shots of the sun coming through the trees and fog are amazing! It would have freaked me out at first too!
November 30th, 2007Too, too funny! I always love reading your posts. Thanks for sharing all the great pics. Your house looks wonderful.
November 30th, 2007You are hysterically funny! And you definitely dragged me out of my “feeling-sorry-for-myself” slump today.
November 30th, 2007Your house looks lovely!
And that sun through the trees shot is stunning!!!
Enough wonderful adjectives for you?
You are amazing!
Finally! Pictures of the house! Pictures of you with the Fire Marshall husband and the tall offspring!
This was a great classic Monica post. You kick Hurley’s ass if you don’t mind my saying so.
November 30th, 2007That was one mother of a post!!! I totally thought that was a ball of fire too and panicked for just a second!!! You totally do not look like Hurley (unless you really want to), you are beautiful and curly headed just like me:) Hubby look super snazzy!!!
November 30th, 2007WOWZER girlfriend, where shall I begin. I’m totally exhausted after reading all this. Love your kitchen space above the cabinets. I have one of those kitchen windows you got there. I love it!! It’s old and out of date but great for displaying crap, uh stuff.
November 30th, 2007Congrats on hubby and the grand marshal gig and sorry about the fat bearded guy taking over!! Darn him!! What are ya gonna do, he’s got the gifts you gotta let him take over!!
You are one crazy lady, Monica. I HEART Happy Zombie!!!!! Hurley with tits? You made me laugh out loud I think I tooted! Oops, TMI?! You all look great!I agree with Raesha, GM-hubby looks snazzy. Even the Lebanese gnome looks fabu.
November 30th, 2007Soooo much!
Fabulous post. I’ve been checking everyday! Now, so much to comment on.
Great photo of the family–all five of you. Love the Lebanese gnome. Don’t tell him about the gnome house in my woods. He might want to move in. But, then I could go to dinner with him every night instead of you. Tom looks fab, and it’s a great picture of you. I see Christmas cards……..
The house is looking absolutely fab. I’ve gone faux tree, too, but miss the smell of evergreens. Perhaps we could prune some trees and bring swags in. Respect Ma Nature and get that good fragrance, too.
But, what I mostly wanted to comment on were the photos of the “fire!” OMG! I instantly thought fire. What amazing photos, and what an amazing site it must have been IRL.
November 30th, 2007You are TOO FUNNY !!!! You crack me up!!! Loved the post — and it wasn’t too long at all! I especially love the name of your anorexic Xmas tree!!!… and, that picture of the sun/fog in the woods is a heart stopper!! Really!!! AMAZING!!
November 30th, 2007Shit, my camera must be broken too because I think I look an awful lot like J-Lo in real life but the camera makes me look more like Roseanne Barr. You are a cutie Ms. Zombie! To hell with J-Lo and Izzy.
btw- I own your tree’s twin, Ashley, in case you were looking for her.
December 1st, 2007YOU’RE HYSTERICAL!!! You SO do not look like Hurley, you gorgeous woman you! The decorating is looking fabulous! Please, please don’t shorten your posts. I have a hard time keeping up with everyone, but you’re such a pleasure to read!!! Oh, and thanks for revealing the problem with crappy pictures of me — I’m sending my camera in for repair on Monday LOL!
December 1st, 2007Mon, seriously, can you get unpopular so I don’t hurt my wrist getting down here to the frickin bottom to leave a useless and repetitive comment? You can’t shorten yer posts unless you make them more frequent!! Those are the rules, beotch and I will hold ya to them. Did you wait until I finally gave up trolling around here yesterday to post? I was going crazy looking for new post from my Blog Peeps and there were none…until I come back today…sheesch. Flickr is like a graveyard. People must be out living their lives and having real instead of virtual fun. Oh well. bought some black and white square flooring for my doll house and found some “lazy gnomes” for the yard. The Mr said he would help me put the floor and do the roof. Then it will be done and ready to decorate. saw doll houses for your doll house and almost peed my paints.er, pants. I’m too tired from elfing sewing to re-type and correct that. I’m going to take a shower and put on my comfies. love you sistah. ps. I like the mary kate trees. Have you seen the upside down trees? Whats up with that? Everyone just has to be unique! its too early still I think for me. sadie too. and then next weekend I have a show to do. I will be crammin in some crafting this week let me tell ya.
December 1st, 2007http://www.miniatures.com/hbs/global/index2.asp
put gnomes in the search above
December 1st, 2007OK, well, I’m a little late to this comment party and everyone has said what I was gonna say (isn’t that the best, though?). I’m gonna say it anyway.
Do you know how much you make me laugh? The long posts are always the good ones! Pictures are wonderful (that fireball/sun is amazing), but the content is what keeps me coming back for more Monica Madness!
In addition:
1. I love that Trader Joe’s bag, as soon as I saw it, I HAD to have it!
2. You do NOT look like Hurley!!!
3. Mary Kate tree - BWAAAHAHAHAAAA!
Thanks for the great conversational post!
December 1st, 2007Your halarious…what agreat room, Id die for all that space!!!
December 1st, 2007Such excitement! Such glamour! And such a gorgeous living room, I am so jealous. And how the heck does your place look so good so soon after moving? Seriously! I still have boxes piled up everywhere!
December 1st, 2007~Angela :-)
OMG! You crack me up, girlfriend!! I loved all your pictures! I think you look just like Izzy!!
The pictures of the trees are gorgeous! Nothing like that in my ‘hood! Just concrete and track homes!
I think I have carpal tunnel from scrolling through your post!!
TTFN BFF!
Kris
December 2nd, 2007Your “pit” rocks, dude!! Here I am waving back to you, a bit late, but can you see me, huh - huh???!
December 2nd, 2007My lip stuck out really big when I figured out that I missed the Seaside Christmas parade. WAH!!! I must start reading the paper or at least the Coast Weekend pamphlet. Good golly, Miss Molly!
Love that picture of the sun poking through the trees. It seriously looks like fire. I would have wet my pants…
First off… Why are my trader joe bags in the back of your car? It seriously looks like my car too. lol
December 3rd, 2007I love the orange hawaiian trader joe bags for groceries and I have 2 of them but need more. The more colorful ones do not stand up but are great for packing for 1 night away from home.
I like your gnome, he’s cute. I love the way you decorate your house, the swedish look is so cute and I love the less is more look.
I am trying to hard to achieve that but with my family it’s hard, they want every felted elve out for all to see.
Several boxes are going to find their way to the Salvation Army they are still nice things but have no special meaning to me.
I love your mountain, I can’t even imagine living there it’s so beautiful and the fire…..ohmygod.
It really does look like FIRE!!!
Happy Christmas. :) Bren
Your “Christmassy” home looks so wonderful and inviting!
December 3rd, 2007Too funny, though the Christmas tree thing — have to disagree there. Since most of them are raised on farms (and around here — if they weren’t tree farms they would be plowed under for cash crops like soy and corn) I’m ok with getting a live one. Plus — my Mom’s artificial one? It gave me HIVES. Yes, it is possible to be allergic to an artificial Christmas tree!
December 3rd, 2007Oh my gorsh! I am famous now! I have been mentioned in the HZ blog! I can die happy!! I am waving like a mad fool right at this moment - can you see me??? Hallooooooo!!!!
December 4th, 2007Your posts are NEVER too long! They’re always wonderful, and full of such interesting things. Congrats again to T-man for being GM of the Yuletide parade! No matter what that ol’ party-poop person said about the parade - there’s one in every crowd, you know.
Your home looks so pretty - love the dust-catcher shelf - so festive! The kitchen window is lovely - I can see why the kitties like it so much!
I think Mary Kate is very sweet, but maybe she needs to retire to another part of the house next year - make way for big tree, whatever his/her name will be!
I hope you survived the storm all right - our kids in WV called last night and wondered if we were okay. Their news said that Oregon and Washington had hurrican wind warnings - it evidently failed to mention it was on the coast only. All is well with you, right? Wave back at me, please - I’ll be watching for you, MJM.
You are a hoot!!
December 4th, 2007I am a faux fan so I am with you. I also needed a bigger tree this year with my bigger family room with the cathedral ceiling so here’s what I did. I put up my perfectly good faux little tree up, decorated it with my 4 million ornaments, decided the tree wasn’t big enough, went and bought a giant tree, undecorated the little tree, put it in it’s box and gave it away, put together the new tree, decorated it with the 4 million ornaments and I love it!
December 6th, 2007Hey all you HZ pals, I just talked to her and they’re fine, just no power and a new view from the downed trees :(.
She’s getting (and loves) all the emails, but she doesn’t know when she’ll be able to respond. Keep Astoria in your thoughts/prayers. She said there is a lot of damage in town.
December 6th, 2007you are out of town, aren’t ya? did I forget that? miss you…………………
December 6th, 2007Hey do what I do - or did - develop a severe allergy to evergreens. Mine is very real - thus we’ve had a fake tree for years as a real one will put me down with severe bronchitis - but you could fake it. Cough a lot, sprinkle pepper in your nose to make you sneeze, breathe through your mouth, loose your voice. You can act that well, I’m sure! Then tell DS2 the doctor said no more real evergreens in the house again - ever!
I was so surprised to find The Mountain was our mountain. Being from Oregon I figured you had to be talking about Mt. Hood.
December 7th, 2007I love the Christmas decorations! I, too, want to blow them up and take a magnifying glass to see every little detail.
Please don’t shorten your posts! I love them!
I finally get to see what you look like! You’re beautiful! It’s always fun to see what a bloggy friend looks like.
Resoulutions? What resolutions? I don’t make them either. It just sets me up for failure because that’s what happens when I make them. I just make little notes to myself like finishing some UFO’s, trying to reduce my stash, and fun stuff like that.
Happy New Year, Monica! You helped make my 2007 laugh when I really needed it. 2008 is going to be great!
{{Big Hugs}}
January 6th, 2008