Merry Christmas

We thought it would be fun to celebrate the Christmas season by sharing each of our favorite Christmas Songs.  Without further ado, we present...


Plant Girl's Favorite: 




Captain Y's Favorite:




Sasha's Favorite:




Gaston's Favorite:

Who wore it best? The Christmas Edition.

We're trying to get in the Christmas spirit around here and let me tell you that can be hard when it's 70 degrees outside.  So, we pulled out the Santa hats.  And now it's time to ask the question again...Who wore it best? 

Sasha?

OR

Gaston?

Scenes from the Season

We, like everyone this time of year, have been busy little elf's.  Here are a few scenes of what we have been up too.

Making Marshmallows.  Most people don't even know you can make them at home but you can.  The hardest part is boiling the sugar which honestly is quite easy.  Homemade marshmallows are so much lighter and fluffier than the ones you get at the grocery store, totally worth the effort! 

Decorating the house.  This one is essential since it has been 70 degrees most of the week, which doesn't really put one in the Christmas spirit! 

Creating gift bags and cards.

Crochet Success

I finished my first crochet project!  Captain Y and I spent the week of Thanksgiving with the whole Plant family in Missouri which also means a long drive across three states.  All that time in the car was good for my crochet productivity.  I’m definitely still learning because I had to keep taking out rows of stitches to keep the washcloth square, or at least sort of square.  When all was said and done I dropped a stitch somewhere in the middle and it’s not quite square.  Oh well, hopefully it will still clean the dishes! 

My first creation:

Now for a comparison.  On the right is my creation.  On the left is a washcloth my grandmother made, she was quite a pro with the crochet hooks!  Mine looks pretty sad next to those straight, straight lines of stitches. 

Maybe with some more practice I’ll find the crochet goddess that I’m sure in hidden away somewhere inside this plant girl! 

Visitors

Last week Captain Y’s parents (Papa Y and Mama Y) came to town riding on a pony, er, driving a car.  They hung out for a couple of days and even though we didn’t do anything super exciting, it was good to see them and I think they enjoyed getting away from real life for a few days.

Captain Y likes to make people go to work with him.  He thinks it’s fun.  Sometimes our guests agree ;-)  Here’s Papa Y workin’ on the boat, and the guys trying to look tough. Please note they are both sporting rain gear. 

While the guys were off on the boat, Mama Y and I tried our hand at crochet.  Mama Y has a little more practice/experience so she is a couple of steps ahead of me.  I thought my fingers would never figure out how to hold the hook and yarn and keep the tension correct and make the stitches!  It took a couple of hours, some hand cramps, and maybe a couple of four letter words but finally I was able to get a chain stitch down.  It took even more patience to turn the corner and work on the second row, but I think I’m finally starting to get the hang of it.  It’s still rough, but I think there is hope!  I think my first official project will be a dish cloth but I also want to try making some flowers.  Hey, I’m plant girl for a reason J 

We also made a trip to Ikea, ate some delicious Mexican food, and Papa Y whipped up a batch of special salsa, spicy and delicious.  Friday it was time for Mama and Papa Y to head back north.  While we always hate to see our guests go home, the holidays are closing in fast we know we’ll see them again soon. 

BNL

We've been really lucky to go to a couple of great concerts recently.  Live music is so much fun!  When else can you sing loudly (even if off key) to all your favorite songs and dance with 5,000+ of your closest friends?!?! This week's concert was my (Plant Girl's) birthday present.  We spent Wednesday night fourth row center with the Barenaked Ladies! 

BNL's songs are fun but live they are even better.  They will be talking along and all of a sudden just start jamming and making up the lyrics as they go...there was a whole rap based on their tour of NASA.  Even the drummer got into the action, coming out from behind his drum set to sing during the encore.  They are definatly one of my top picks for bands you must see live! 

They played tons of stuff from their newest CD including my favorite 4 Seconds (One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi, Four)

There were a couple of opening acts, we caught two of the three.  Captain Y loved the Daylights.

We both were laughing out loud with Jukebox the Ghost.  These guys are crazy.  The keyboard player makes wacky faces and gestures when he's singing and I think the drummer guy might have been Amish in a past life. 



Other new Jukebox the Ghost favorites: Summer Sun and Half Crazy

Carl

My office entered a scarecrow contest at a local nature center as a way to support our friends over there.  We varied from the traditional scarecrow concept a tad, but we're hoping it pays off!  What do you think, would you vote for Composting Carl?  He had a rough day working in the garden.