Friday

Jason got home a little bit early from his office's holiday party. They exchanged gag gifts, but he got a surprisingly fitting one. He is a spreadsheet wizard and loves his coffee. Kudos to the person who picked it out!





For dinner, I was craving some homecooked goodness, so I whipped up some potato casserole and meatloaf. Then Jason and I settled in to watch The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Sigh. My mom's meatloaf recipe is the best. Check it out:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1/2 c. rolled oats
• 2 tsp. minced onion flakes
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 c. tomato juice/sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Mix well and place in loaf pan. Mix 1/4 c. ketchup and 1/4 c. brown sugar to form topping. Cover top of meatloaf with topping and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.

Mmm...definitely my go-to for comfort food. What's your favorite comfort food?

Lunch with John

John was in the neighborhood and stopped to eat lunch with me. It was nice to get to chat with my little brother. Come again soon!

Love blanket in the works

It's approaching the two-year mark of our marriage and that means gift-giving time! We're trying to be creative and stick with those silly anniversary gift guidelines. You know, the ones that say the first year is paper, second year is cotton and so on...Well, once upon a time, they were practical. Like when letter-writing was common, it made sense to splurge and get new stationery with your married name on it the first year or get some towels or bed linens for cotton during the second year. Thankfully, we were blessed with family and friends who got us very nice bed linens, and we don't need towels because we're still using the mismatched ones we had when we lived apart. (Why not? They're still good!) So, what to get each other (not that we really have to, it's just fun) has been on our minds. I thought it would be fun to crochet us a blanket that we could snuggle together under. I wonder what Jason's come up with...

Frances' Ripple Afghan

During a visit with Grandma Schad, she mentioned that her friend Frances, who had died several years ago, had started crocheting a ripple afghan before her death. Grandma gave me the unfinished afghan and asked if I thought I could complete it with the skeins of yarn that were with it. I agreed to try. I guessed at the gauge, counted the stitches and tried to imagine the pattern in completion. I think I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself, and it was an honor to complete a piece for such a good friend and accomplished crocheter.

Meneely Christmas 2009 in 2010

Meneely Christmas! We got together at Auny Marilyn and Uncle John's house. Unfortunately, many members of Uncle David's family were unable to attend. Fortunately, Justin, the cool one, was not one of the missing members. After a lovely dinner, the "kids" went downstairs to play Wii. We were met with disappointment when we discovered the Wii was broken, but we rallied to play pool. Justin taught us how to play nine-ball. Lauren provided a playlist of tunes on her laptop. John avoided the game playing, deciding instead to invest his time reading Uncle John's gun magazines. Afterward, we adjourned upstairs to the Christmas tree. Because Justin didn't bring a white elephant gift to exchange, it was decided and agreed upon that he would receive all gifts. He got some KC Royals gear, a set of eight Coca-Cola glasses, some toilet paper, a bottle opener and, what I'm willing to bet was his favorite present, a LisaFrank activity set. Justin and Jason set to work straight away making sand necklaces for each other. Later, Justin practiced his photo-bombing skills, as illustrated by the quality bomb on our classic sister pose. Fun times!

New Year's Resolutions

I'm not really one for New Year's Resolutions. I remember making them up for roll call in 4-H or half-heartedly writing something about them in English class. But this year, while I'm not calling them resolutions, I am making goals. I am identifying things that I want to accomplish this year. Most are just small things, little differences now that I think will add up to big differences down the road. And while some are not easily measureable, which is apparently a bad thing when you are making goals, I have decided to use this blog to hold me publically accountable for my goals, which is apparently a good thing to do when you are setting goals. I hope to relay my progress once a month.
Goals:
1. Do a pull-up or handstand without help - I was always very self-conscious in gym class when it came to anything with upper body strength. I couldn't climb a rope or a pole or do a pull-up or chin-up. I'm also afraid to kick up into a handstand. So my plan is to get Jason to help me with my handstands in short practice sessions. As far as the pull-ups go, I know I need to be more intentional in watching what I eat and working out. One of my mini goals with this is to get back to my Soda on Saturdays routine, where it's a treat to drink soda once a week, if at all, and not a daily occurrence. So more water it is. I also think that, in general, it's a good idea to get a good amount of sleep, so I'm going to try to get back in the habit of going to bed by 10 p.m.
2. Clean out the garage - When I moved to Oak Grove, I knew the move was coming. And yet, I procrastinated. I put off packing until the very end; it was too late to sort and pack. Everything had to come here and to help Jason just started putting things in boxes. So, I'm going to tackle at least one box a month in an attempt to pare down sort through everything. Here's hoping our move back is a little less stressful!
3. Challenge my creativity and imagination - When I moved to Oak Grove, I'm pretty sure I got depressed. I wasn't clinically diagnosed or anything, but I wasn't myself. I lived here for at least five months before I picked up a crochet hook or read one of my favorite novels. So, I am challenging myself to stay creative and imaginative by keeping up with my hobbies: photography, reading, crocheting, sewing, geocaching, whatever. Sure beats watching TV on Hulu.com all the time.
4. Maintain a conscious spending plan - Note that I didn't say budget. In my opinion, Jason and I have been doing ok saving money so far. I just want to maintain that success and build on it in the coming year. My goal is to cut spending where it doesn't matter to us so we have more money to spend where it does. One of the things I think will help in this area is to make meal plans and shop accordingly. And, while I don't want to fritter my time away hunting and clipping coupons, I do want to recognize coupons as a tool to help save money.
5. Be aware of our environmental impact - Whether global warming is real or not, I feel like there is no reason to misuse and abuse resources available to us. Among other things, Jason and I shop with reusable bags, use power strips to take care of phantom loads and recycle as much as possible. This year, I want to shop more locally, consciously choose products with less or recyclable packaging and look into switching to less toxic cleaners-maybe even make our own.

An eveing with the Maurers and friends

New Year's Eve was super-fun this year, thanks to Brian and Kathleen. They helped host a party, along with Brian's dad and brother Brandon, in Blue Springs. I'm glad it was close because we've had a bit of snow, and I wasn't looking forward to a long drive anywhere.

Jason and I arrived fashionably late to find the party in full-swing. Video games on the TV, board games at the kitchen table and a cut-throat game of Jenga on the counter with easy access to the food. The monkey bread and meatballs I had made were well-received, as were the hot pizzas Brian kept bringing fresh from the upstairs kitchen.

Jason mingled with the gamers around the TV, and I filled in for Brian at Jenga while he performed host duties. Then I got in on a little Mario action. Upon realizing I was a complete and total video-gaming failure, I broke out the afghan (I'm such a nerd, I know), which I had brought to hopefully make a little more progress. I crocheted on the couch and listened to critiques of movie directors. The critiques turned to a trivia game with which I had moderate success.

At about 11:55, the gaming TV was turned to the ball drop in New York. Of course we counted down to midnight, and all the couples kissed. Then Jason and I were introduced to the strange New Year's tradition of bare-chested chopping. Apparently, Brian, Brandon & Friends used to wrestle at this party years ago. After they grew too large, and the house and its exquisite decorations became vulnerable to destruction by such violence, they abbreviated the tradition to taking hits to the chest. We elected not to participate.

Before we left, Kathleen and I played a couple rounds of Dr. Mario. She showed me a trick, but she still beat my pants off. I bow to your greatness, Kathleen.

Happy New Year, everyone! Cheers!