Cultural Awareness

So here's another little lesson in Chinese culture for you.  Of course, as with most anything that comes from me, this isn't a hard and fast documented rule, just something Jason and I observed.

Chinese people don't like to eat with their hands.

Think about it.  Can you name any Chinese finger foods? 

 And fortune cookies don't count.  There's no such thing as a fortune cookie in China.

It does make sense. In a country with a billion people spitting, going to the bathroom, and blowing their nose tissue-less right there on the street, it would be healthier to never even put your hands near your mouth.

KFC is a big deal over there, but the whole eating chicken with your hands thing just throws them for a loop.  Jason and I have watched them eat it while holding it in a napkin, wearing their own personal disposable gloves, and our fav...with chopsticks.

So I wasn't surprised at all when I found Kyle enjoying his breakfast of Lit'l Smokies like this:

Spotlight On...

my favorite Christmas tree this year. 

I finished up decorating last Wednesday.  It took me a full week, but it's done, and now I can sit back and enjoy it until Christmas night.  (That's when it starts coming down.)

All the regulars are up this year (Texas tree, Chinese tree, JR's artwork tree) but I have a new one this year that is my favorite (right now, anyway).

Pier 1 (Where else do I have to shop?) was selling this tree as an Easter tree.  I kept my eye on it, and the day after Easter I was there to buy the only one left in the store.  But as Pier 1 does, it's in the store right now, and they're selling it as a Christmas tree.  Thanks for continuing to keep me in style even after I buy your stuff on sale, Pier 1!  These butterflies are also Pier 1 after Easter, and the silver balls were just in my Christmas stash . 

As you can imagine, I just adore it.  I mean, can you get more Jan than a tree that looks like a giant feather boa! 

 Loves it!

The Names Have Been Changed...

I have a strict closed door bathroom policy. 

Bathrooms in this house are like Vegas. What happens in there...stays in there!

Now, this post is certainly not about going to the bathroom, but it is on the cusp.

 So I'll be keeping the identity of my subject(s) hidden.

Let's just say that "Lenny" sometimes wears underwear around the house. "Squiggy" doesn't understand why he can't wear underwear too.  In fact, Squiggy gets so upset about this that he wears them anyway. 

On top of his clothes.

Now this little situation would be fine in the privacy of our own home, but the other night, Squiggy was insistent on wearing his underwear out to eat. 

And just in case you need a vocabulary refresher:

insistent- in·sist·ent  /ɪnˈsɪstənt/  –adjective

throwing a big ol' wall-eyed fit, complete with rolling in the floor and hysterics

Needless to say, Squiggy wore his underwear.

But I figured since it's Durango, nobody would even notice.

(Photos taken in public restaurant)

Paging Dr. Jan

My mom gives me an amazing Christmas present every year.

She helps me take down my decorations.

The best thing about my mom's ability to "get the decorations jerked down" (as she would say) is that she's super fast.  The worst thing is that she's super fast.

Needless to say, fragile things may or may not live to see the next year.

Although some victims never made it to the operating table, many were broken but salvageable.

All they needed was a trip to Dr. Jan's office, and an appointment with my handy-dandy glue gun.

(Oh, and you'll never believe it...I didn't burn myself at all!)

And no, these weren't all my patients, just my most critically injured.

As you can see, both Santas were pretty perturbed about being sliced in half and loosing a hand, respectively.

They actually didn't seem much happier after leaving the recovery room.

Appendages seemed to be a big ticket health care item this year.

 Happy Family. As good as new.

Poor Baby Jesus got put through the ringer last year.

But now he's sleeping soundly in the manger...Until Kyle finds him.

But, my biggest operation couldn't be performed on the kitchen counter.  I knew it was bad when I heard Jason say, "Come here. You're going to be upset."

We didn't know if Santa was going to pull through or not, so Kyle held his hand during the tense procedure.

Hallelujah, he made it!

Hot glue, you are a wonder drug!

That's Entertainment

So what do Kyle and Reed do while I'm busy decorating for Christmas?

(Besides "help".)

They play Wii with the extension cords.  Best I can tell, Extension Cord Wii has an awesome Tom and Jerry game.

They also ride around in their car. 

Reed is the driver (no surprise there), and they go "running and to WalMart".

Guess that shows you how exciting my life is!

I'm Election Day

Seriously. 

I really am Election Day. 

Well, I was for Halloween, at least.

(My Beijing friends will recognize this little ensemble as my costume for the 1776 Ball.  But that's the great thing about having a prop closet, I just grab something and rename/reuse for another occasion.)

Now, as you can imagine, I didn't get many compliments on my outfit.  In fact, I got quite a few stare-downs.

I honestly thought I was being on my best behavior. Not wanting to offend 98% of the attendees at our neighborhood Halloween party, I went as nonpartisan as I could.

I thought it was very nice of me not to go in with my conservative guns blazing.

But speaking of guns, I did add this one little button that I figured would sum up my election day choices.

But I haven't even gotten to the best part yet.

So we'd been at the party for about five minutes and a man I didn't know walks up to me and says,

"Who are you? Sarah Palin? All you need is a hockey stick."

 I looked right at him, and in my most sweet and sincere voice said,

"Oh no! Sarah Palin is much too beautiful for me to try and be her!

I could never pull that off,

 I'm just... Election Day."

 I thought his head was going to explode.

He looked at me completely dumbfounded, and then turned away and walked off.

Not. a. word.

I was so proud of myself.

I've never left anybody speechlesss before!

Not What You Were Expecting

So if you know me, you know today is the day the Christmas decorations go up. 

But I'm not going to talk about that.

Nope.

 Totally not going to mention how I've actually been working on getting them up since Wednesday.  Not telling you how I'm hosting a baby shower on Saturday so the house has to be finished. 

No way, Jose'.  Mum's the word.

In fact, just to show you how much I'm not discussing the love of my Christmas decor, I'm going to talk about fall decorations.

Look what my friend, (and new neighbor...that's a Texan!) Cassidy, made me.

 My very own "I" pumpkin.

Take that, Hobby Lobby!

It even has a blinking tea light in it, which the kids think is about the coolest thing they've ever seen.

BTW, Hobby Lobby's initial pumpkins have no illumination.  So, I win!



And how cute is this pumpkin picture Reed brought home from church yesterday?

(Kyle's picture wasn't blog worthy.)

  And yes, I should have scanned and upload it instead of taking a picture of a picture. 

But, what do you expect? How could I possibly have time for something like that when I'm decorating for Christmas!