Goodbye 2013

In the words of Counting Crows, it’s been a long December. It’s been a long year, too; even though the days go by so fast, a lot has happened, some good and some bad.

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There’s no place like home

Yesterday, Bart and I made the one-thousand mile, fifteen-hour trek from Arkansas back to DC. We spent about ten days visiting family for Christmas, and while we had a great trip, we were definitely ready to be home.

We always drive to Arkansas when we go back to visit, both in the summer and around Christmas. We usually have ample time to spend driving, and it’s way more cost effective for two adults than flying (time really is money). That also keeps our schedule more flexible in case of weather (always a possible problem, particularly around the holidays). We can also bring Murphy, who loves nothing more than to “G-O” (he knows the word, so we have to spell it); he gets lots of attention from our family, and he’s a very good traveler. Plus, we can haul way more presents each way in the car than in luggage!

All these positives somehow manage to outweigh the brutal exhaustion of long-haul road tripping. We’re still young and crazy enough to usually do our trips in one long day instead of breaking it up in sections, but it’s one really, really long day. I find it hilarious that the trip is exactly the same length from DC as it was from Colorado, just in the opposite direction; we didn’t gain ground, but we didn’t lose it, either. And thank heaven that Tennessee and Virginia are vastly more interesting than Kansas and Eastern Colorado. After eight years, twice per year, of that route, I had every exit and gas station memorized, and I will not miss it in the least.

The weather was pretty good for both trips. It began pouring rain with about an hour left in our incoming trip (and it proceeded to pour without letting up for the next 24 hours…and I’m not exaggerating), but we made it just fine. We thought we’d be in pouring rain for the entire trip yesterday, but thankfully the front that moved up the east coast was a few hours ahead of us, leaving us with a clear shot all the way home.

Our saving grace on roadtrips are audiobooks; they are absolutely magical for making the miles quite tolerable, at least if you have a decent one. On our way down, we opted for some sci-fi/fantasy: we listened to the novella “The Emperor’s Soul” by Brandon Sanderson and most of “Wyrms” by Orson Scott Card (author of the recently cinematized “Ender’s Game”); we finished it up in the first few hours of our trip yesterday. “Soul” was very good, as expected from Sanderson, and a quick story. “Wyrms” was not bad but pretty weird…that’s about all I can say for it.

Yesterday on the way back we listened to “The Innocent” by David Baldacci. It’s a crime thriller set in Washington, DC, so having first-hand knowledge of the metro area gave us a unique appreciation for the book. He nailed most of the aspects of the town (traffic, housing prices, seedy parts of town, road names, etc.), and even though I think he took one or two liberties about locations, I can understand artistic license in that regard. At any rate, I thought it was a sufficiently entertaining book that kept us engaged and paying attention to the sinuous plot line for 11 hours. Most contemporary authors in this ubiquitous genre tell a good story, but it’s downright challenging to find one that isn’t completely stuffed with gratuitous language and sex (not our preferred plot devices). This one had a little bit of each, but it was tolerable and considerably better than a lot of books we’ve attempted cross-country. It was a bit specific about violence, but thankfully it wasn’t pervasive.

So, thanks to good weather and an engaging story, we made good time and arrived home around 10:00 p.m. Unfortunately, we were greeted by a house with an internet outage and a broken boiler. The pilot light was out, and we have no idea for how many days. Internet I can live without, but heat is one of those things I consider a must-have in the winter. Bart attempted to relight the pilot, but it wouldn’t stay lit. We exhausted our limited knowledge of heating systems and decided to tough it out overnight until we could call someone today. It wasn’t too bad, as we stayed toasty under the covers with an electric blanket, but hopefully the repair guy will come out today and get it fixed. Hopefully it won’t cost a bazillion dollars, either, but such is the life of a homeowner.

Every last surface of our house is icy now; with every bit of heat being sucked out of it for who knows how many days, the entire house is frigid. I suspect that even when we have heat again it’s going to take days for the ambient warmth to resorb back into all our belongings. But I’m still thankful to have shelter from the outside, plenty of food, a roaring, cozy fireplace, and a husband and pup to share it all with. I’m also thankful for a great visit with family and a safe trip home. I’m glad to be back and ramping up for a brand new year!

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Merry Christmas

There are many ways I could wish you Merry Christmas on my blog. I could tell you about spending time with family. I could kvetch about not being in the Christmas spirit. I could share a silly photo of my dog in reindeer antlers (some of you have seen that gem on Facebook already). I could tell you about Christmas Eve traffic and rant about materialism and commercialism taking over the holidays. There are lots of things to say about Christmas, but there’s only one thing I really want to say.

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I’m dreaming of a damp Christmas

It was a dark and stormy night to start off our Christmas break. It began raining with about an hour left in our all-day driving marathon, and we drove the rest of the way to our final destination in pouring rain and pitch black. We also had two different sets of family members driving out in the torrential rain and lightening last evening, so Bart and I were very thankful when we and all other parties arrived safely to their respective destinations.

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Two months, and our first big project

Today, we’ve been in our house for two months (I remark about how time flies every time I do a post about milestones, so I’ll spare you the repetition). I feel like we’ve done a lot in that time, both with getting unpacked and settled and also diving into some more significant projects.

The biggest thing we’ve tackled in the house is revamping spare bedroom #1 upstairs. It’s the smallest room on the main level (which isn’t saying too much; all three rooms are pretty small), and of all the areas on the main floor, it has had the least updating in the last 50 years.

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Not a moment too soon

So, funny story…

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Eight years

Today marks eight years since the Taylors tied the knot. Bart says that for him it feels like just a couple of years but for me married to him it must feel like twenty. I don’t disagree with him there…but only because 6.5 of those years I spent in grad school. I felt every minute of that. Good thing I had Bart around to encourage me and keep me going.

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Let’s talk turkey

Thanksgiving may be a distant memory now, but that didn’t stop the Taylors from preparing a Thanksgiving-style feast for our friends on Friday evening.

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A Holiday Buffet

Today I have a buffet of topics that are cooking at the Taylors’ house this week (and they all, ironically, happen to be food related), so grab a fork and spoon and let’s dive in.

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Deck the halls

I confess that I’m not 100% into the Christmas spirit yet. This is probably due to being gone over Thanksgiving, then traveling to a conference, and now having the house a bit disheveled from a somewhat messy DIY project. However, we’re two weeks away from the big day, and I’ve slowly been ramping up with my holiday traditions to get in the mood.

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