When Trips Go REALLY Wrong

It all started back on Halloween when Husband and I totaled our car in a collision with a very large military vehicle. Since then we've been borrowing a co-workers car while we made arrangements to get a new vehicle. It was finally decided that my mother wanted to give us her current vehicle... the only hiccup being that it was still in Maryland.

After getting the run around from transportation companies we finally decided that it would be best if I just flew home and drove the car back across country. My dad was nice enough to go along with me so I wouldn't have to do it myself. The trip started out wonderfully with amazingly mild weather for January on the East Coast. We took the same route that Husband and I did when we made the trek out when we moved.

Then the blizzard hit. Dad and I got stuck in Kansas for at least a day while the interstate was closed due to bad weather conditions. When it finally did reopen it was still pretty disastrous and we managed to slide off the road once. No damage was done to either us or the car, just a bit shaken, and we got back on the road and headed forward. We were planning to drive through Denver, CO and up into Wyoming before stopping for the evening. Of course, my "new" car had other plans. We got just out of Cheyenne, Wyoming when we started hearing this terrible knocking from the engine. We pulled over and when Dad checked the oil... we had none. We called for service hoping that some fresh oil would be all we needed before we got back on our way... a long story short (too late!) was that new oil did not fix the problem, we needed a whole new engine.

That was last Saturday evening and since then Dad and I have been holed up in Cheyenne while they find a new engine to put into the car. The latest update is that the rebuilt engine should be arriving sometime this morning and they'll do their best to get us back on the road this weekend.

In the meantime we've been discovering Cheyenne in a rental car... which I suppose neither of us would have ever done had we not been stuck here. So far we've been to the Old West Museum, a railroad museum, and the museum on Warren Air Force Base. I also managed to turn a sweatshirt into a cardigan in our hotel room, and I'm currently in the middle of a cross stitch pattern.

I think the most fun I've had so far though was getting to photograph these antelope. They were about 10 feet away from us and were obviously very used to people. We didn't get out of the car to try and bother them, just drove very slowly up to them and got some great shots.




Hopefully we'll be on our way soon and I can get back to my regularly scheduled life in Yakima. Until then, I guess I'll just have to continue to look for the fun in our adventure.

Quick Update

Today Husband and I were supposed to take Flat Alissa out to play in the snow, but my scratchy irritated throat from yesterday has now been upgraded to sore and even more annoying. I thought that a long drive into the mountains and playing in the snow wouldn't be the best idea. Instead I'm taking a bit of a sick day to watch mysteries and drink tea in my fuzzy giraffe kigurumi (a must have for not-feeling-well days).

I'm also going to try to do some updates to this blog, my tumblr, and other such things so if there are or were any hiccups, that's why.

Also on the agenda, helping Husband out with his new blog The Metal Philosopher. Obviously I'm quite biased (I did marry him after all), but Husband really is an intelligent open-minded guy who loves to write about interesting things. Of course these are the kinds of things that I get to talk about with him all the time, but if you too want to join in our discussions then please subscribe to him! He also loves comments, they make him do a little jig.

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Happy New Year!

I can't believe how fast December has flown by and it's already a new year!
I spent most of the month helping a friend with a litany of crafts. First we made stockings for some of our troops overseas, and I had a blast making them. Next we started on some casserole covers for her friends and family members. She was a bit more ambitious with her sewing for the holidays than she could manage on her own so I was more than happy to help as needed. Of course the work took up most of the month and before I knew it, it was the week before Christmas! I managed to get all of my family's presents out on time for Christmas and all of my baking done for local gifts, but sadly I'm STILL behind and now waiting to finish all my friends' gifts. Of course that means I've been behind on everything else that I'd had planned, including blogging! I'll be so glad to be back to a more regular routine soon.

YumYums and Cake say Merry Holidays everyone!

I'm also really glad to be hosting a guest for the holidays! My niece is participating in a project based on the book "Flat Stanley", where she has sent me a paper doll of herself.

We are to take her around for about a week and then send back pictures, souvenirs, and a letter about her adventure. I'm so excited to do this and I'm in the process of making a small scrapbook to send back with her! I hope that with our unique guest here we'll be having some noteworthy adventures to write about. Hopefully no more long absences from writing, I really have missed it!!

At The Theater, in Yakima!

This week Husband and I had the opportunity to go to two amazing shows in Yakima!

On Tuesday we joined a group to see Spamalot, the Monty Python musical based on the popular movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". This was the touring show from Broadway and they put on an amazing show in the very classy (and historic) Capital Theater in downtown Yakima. As far as the show goes, it's had mixed reviews from fans of the original movie but Husband and I thought it was a great adaptation that incorporated both classic bits from the movie as well as new material and songs. The Capital Theater has had an amazing run of Broadway touring shows like Spamalot including Shrek and coming this December, Young Frankenstein. Personally I was overjoyed that the Yakima Symphony Orchestra was going to be putting on the first full opera production in Yakima, The Marriage of Figaro, one of my absolute favorites! I look forward to supporting the opera in Yakima as it's one thing I have been missing.

Yesterday, Husband received a call from one of our friends who had tickets for the Blues Brothers Revue at The Seasons. I've never seen the movie, but I'm familiar with the characters and I'm always up for going out so we happily took them off their hands. The Seasons was a wonderful venue, another classic and historic building in downtown. I think it was the perfect venue for the show, just intimate enough and with amazing acoustics. The show was brilliant and fun, but what really made it an excellent evening out was the audience. It didn't take long for people to head up front and dance, and everyone was singing and clapping.




Sorry about the quality, only had my iPhone on hand to take pics!



These were the first performances we'd had a chance to see in Yakima and I was very surprised at the number of people at each show. Both venues were full for each performance and I found it very encouraging that the people here were enthusiastic about these shows that were coming to Yakima. It means that there were be plenty more great shows in the future! Just another thing I wouldn't have guessed about my little town.

Halloween Wrap Up!

October really turned out to be a very tough month for me, right down to the very last day of the month where Husband and I got into an accident with a very large armored military vehicle. No one was hurt, but our car was totaled. With all of the commotion, I was completely sidetracked from writing, so it's a little late, but here is my Halloween wrap-up!

Husband and I hosted a murder mystery party on the Saturday before Halloween. We had friends from his work come and it was quite the success! I love having parties, and I think I love planning for them even more. The real highlight this year were my Save-The-Date cards! Some people may think it's odd, but for a popular holiday like Halloween when you know that everyone will be making plans, it's important to get the word out as soon as possible that you'll be hosting a party so that people can plan to attend!



I also have a great time decorating every year, and this was the first Halloween in our new home! I love decorating the mantle, and I also took the opportunity to decorate the glass on my tea cabinet. It was a two-fold project, looking great while also hiding some of the things I had quickly stashed inside for storage while other decorations were out!



Husband also got together with some ladies at his office, who are also friends of mine, to MAKE this beautiful Halloween countdown calendar for me!! It was filled with candy, small gifts like my skull keychain hanging there and on the last day, A SNAKE! He's so cute!! I was so blown away by the workmanship, time and effort that was put into making this, I cried when he gave it to me. It means so much to me that my friends would do something like this to me, and pay such close attention to every detail (like how every skull has a bow on it!).




I was so excited to make my Halloween costume this year, but sadly it was a bit too ambitious so I didn't end up finishing it in time for the party. Even so, it's still a very functional Lolita outfit and I'm so proud of the finished project! I'm glad that I didn't cut any corners in order to save time. I was going to be a Lolita Sherlock Holmes! I believe that you can mix Lolita and Halloween costumes, but it should be done with thought. I like to incorporate what I already have or what I can reasonably wear again and then I play up the costume aspects with lots of accessories. For this I have a pipe and was also going to add in a magnifying glass. At least I'm early for next year?



On the actual evening of Halloween, I wasn't in a mood to do anything but pout after what had happened so Husband and I stayed home and had a relaxing evening of passing out candy and playing cards. Every time the doorbell rang though we had to pause our game, and if the person at the door didn't say “Trick or Treat!”, Husband would just stand there and endlessly make small talk with them (much to my annoyance). So I decided to help them (and myself) out by writing them a message on our walkway in glow in the dark chalk.



Of course, then we had people who would just yell “Trick Or Treat!” and never ring the bell... I guess I can't win them all.

Halloween Favorites!

I don't usually write "reviews" or things of that nature here, but I figured it was perfect timing to recommend the anime "Ghost Stories". I found this show on Tumblr when a friend had reblogged a YouTube video of clips from the show. At first I thought that these were outtakes from the recording of the dubbing, but this was actually the real dialogue of the show! Ghost Stories was originally a really terrible anime that was intended to be scary, but has been re-dubbed in English as a comedy. I think it's great for Halloween and is quickly becoming one of my favorite comedies for the holiday! You can watch it on Hulu (at least here in the US) for free right now, some of the anime is up on YouTube, and you can also get the entire show on DVD on Amazon!



Since I'm already on the subject, my all-time favorite Halloween movies has to be "Love At First Bite". I am well aware that it's a pretty terrible movie, but it's just so much fun!! Not to mention that George Hamilton makes an amazingly tan vampire. Here's the original trailer for the movie:



Can you tell that for as much as I love Halloween, I'm really not into scary horror movies? What are your Halloween favorites??

Showing Off Central Washington

I've really been enjoying hosting my in-laws this week! Showing off your home (or new) town can be a real eye-opener as to what a great place to live it really is! As much as I tease Husband about his having plopped me out in the middle of no where to rusticate, I really do love it out here. For instance, today we took a day trip to Leavenworth, WA, a town that has been built to look like a Bavarian Village! We had a delicious German lunch, shopped at some of the quaintest shops and even stopped by the local tea "haus" for a cream tea dessert. I definitely want to go back again during winter to see all the cute buildings decorated for the holidays and covered in snow! I know that they have a wide range of winter activities to partake of as well!

We also have been just driving around our own little town, showing off the sites. I know that my in-laws are looking for retirement possibilities and it's been nice showing them the ins and outs of Yakima. On Sunday I took my mother-in-law to the local farmers market. I'd only been once before, but we were there a bit early that time so things hadn't really gotten started. Back in Baltimore if you didn't show up to the market before 8 am, you weren't going to get any shopping done! Here the market doesn't even really get started until after 10 am! We ended up getting some delicious and fresh green beans and baby potatoes for dinner that night, as well as a fresh loaf of bread, blended goat/sheep's milk cheese with herbs de Provence, and even some delicious local honey! I was really amazed at the wide variety of local products there were to buy as well as delicious food stands with fresh tacos, lemonade, and even lo mien!

Later we took a drive out to a dairy that sells raw (unpasturized), organic milk, as well as other products. The drive was beautiful and it was so neat to be able to buy something direct from the farm! Along with milk they also had organic beef and sometimes had fresh eggs available (but they were all gone the day we were there). I have to say that the best thing was that the store was unmanned and worked completely off of the honor system. They asked you to put your cash or check in a lock box on the wall and just sign their guest book with your name, phone number, and what you bought!

I feel really badly that I didn't have my camera with me these past few days, but playing hostess (especially to in-laws) has taken a bit out of me and I'm afraid that my head hasn't been on quite straight. Hopefully soon though, I'll be able to show everyone the fun things about Central Washington as I've discovered them!