Snow!! Makes it feel like Christmas.

First snowfall of the season... finally.

Good timing, too, as we've been doing all-things Christmas today: Shopping, Sunday School Christmas Pageant practice, mail a package at the Post Office and a 4-H Holiday Party which involved ice skating and pizza.

It's still snowing (and it's 12:45am).

Here are two pictures taken about 5:00pm today on a freeway off ramp. You can see the snow flakes as blurs around the streetlight. The two pics are a result of using two different camera settings, but I forgot which two they were. They might have been "blueberry" and "orange" settings.



Here is a third picture, a third camera setting ("blackberry"?) taken a couple blocks down the road.


Here is one from our back door. This one was taken at about 9:40pm.


I went to photograph the front of the house, but the family didn't want me to disturb the beauty of the snow. It's only slightly interesting that no one raises a fuss when the dog wants to pee in the undisturbed snow. Actually, I'm pretty sure someone even called it 'so cute'. So... here is a picture of the front from November 2006.

You may think that it's not a relevant photo because it's missing the Christmas lights. Actually, it looks about the same as the photo because we haven't put up the lights yet this year. It's my strategy to not put up lights this year and then maybe we'll WOW the neighbors next year.

Here's the competition: the three houses across the street:




We look forward to seeing Grandma & Grandpa Rolfs when they come up for our early Christmas on Sunday, in conjunction with the annual Sunday School kids Christmas Pageant at our church. Hopefully they'll drive safely, if they opt to brave the cold conditions.

Merry Christmas!

~E

Not-Shocking News

Doesn't surprise me a bit.


I am glad, however, that we found the Shelton crew smoking in the Geo. Otherwise I'd have to assume they were in the tub, I mean sink.

If you don't know what I'm talking about then you must not have read my Finger Lickin' Good post from just a couple weeks ago.

Since they use the sink for bathing I wonder how they wash the dishes?

(**insert flushing sound here**)

~E

Old and New Traditions

We used to visit a tree farm every year to select a Christmas tree. Then we moved into town... and went fake.

This year we decided to keep the artificial tree in its box and make a repeat appearance at the tree farm. The girls were excited.

We originally planned to visit the Hovde Tree farm on the day after Thanksgiving, but the weather was cruddy and we were all comfortably warm at home, decorating for Christmas. We agreed to wait until Sunday, after Thanksgiving at Grandma & Grandpa Rolfs' house.

It was a good choice as the weather on Sunday was much more suitable.

The Tree farm was rather muddy... so we put on our boots and wandered up into the woods to argue about which tree we should select. Everyone has a different opinion as to which tree we should select.




This processes was highlighted by the same conversation that I'm sure all families have at the tree farm. In fact, I think I saw a brochure with the conversation printed inside of it for those making their first-time visit to the tree farm. Let me recreate it here for those of you artificial-tree-huggers:

Girl 1: I like this tree!
Girl 2: Oh! Look at this one! It's perfect!
Grown up 1: We just got here. Let's keep looking to make sure we get the right tree.
Girl 1: Whoa! This one over here is just right!
Girl 2: Hey! Look at this one!
Girl 1: I want a baby tree for my room!
Girl 2: How about this one? It's huge!
Grown up 2: That one is already sold.
Girl 1: Let's get this one!
Grown up 1: That one isn't for sale.
***Repeat conversation for 15 minutes or until someone falls in the mud***
Girl 1: Let's just go home and use the fake tree.
Girl 2: Yeah! We just want to go home and use the fake tree.
Grownup 1: Great! Let's go!
Grownup 2: Fine. The first tree we saw was the best. Let's go get it. Where was it at?

At the Hovde Tree farm there are a couple of tall stumps that look like little houses. Great for family pictures. Plus, you can do this every year and see how much the kids grow. Unless you start using a fake tree for 5 years in which case it kind of screws that tradition up.




While we may have messed up that tradition, there is a new tradition afoot: taking a picture of daddy's growing bald spot and receding hairline while he cuts down the tree.



The kids enjoyed "free" hot chocolate and cookies while daddy paid for the tree and we then headed home for the annual Christmas Tree Decorating Event. It's always fun, at least for a while.


Viola!


Happy Holidays!

Finger Lickin' Good Stories

I'm not sure what the training program is for Kentucky Fried Chicken employees but they surely have room for improvement because their service here in NW Washington just plain sucks.

Or maybe they just don't like my family.

KFC Story #1:
My first indication of the problems at KFC came from my first visit to one of their restaurants here in Mt. Vernon. It was obviously an old building, in the traditional KFC style... it was dirty and gross. I'm pretty sure chickens wouldn't even eat there - that's how bad it was.

Luckilly, they demolished that building and built a new one down the street. Now KFC shares a restaurant with A&W (also owned by Yum! Brands).

We went back.
I spent some time browsing the KFC / A&W menu for something appetizing. Interesting... their 'combo meals' are assigned a code consisting of a letter and a number. Such as A1, A2, K1, K2... you get the point.
Hmmmmm... what to order.... hmmm... Oh, hey, that combo meal looks appetizing.

Employee: "Hi. Welcome to KFCAandW. CanItakeyourorderplease?"
Me: "Hi. Yes, I'll have the... uh (looks up at menu board to locate meal code)... oh, I'll have the K9 meal."
Me: (to myself, silently) Really... K9? Surely it doesn't mean anything. They couldn't at least skip K9 and go with K10? This may be a bad idea.

Anyway, the service continues to suck. Not just suck, but sucks bad. Really bad. Continuously. Consistently. On the bright side, it's not quite as bad as the Taco Bell/Pizza Hut combo down the street which never actually has any pizza for sale. Coincidently, those brands are also owned by Yum! Brands. Do you see the trend here?

So, back on topic here:
KFC Story #2
This past Saturday we traveled down to Grandpa Dave & Margie's house, which is quite a long drive. We decided to stop for lunch along the way. We stopped at, you guessed it, a KFC restaurant.

Like the old KFC in Mt. Vernon, this one is in another of those 'original' buildings and it shows its age. I'm going to pretend it passes the health code inspections because it's still open.

Today, we were Customer Number 1. The first in the door for the day. Hmmm... Red Flag.
The cashier was pleasant and took our order.
Our food came. It was close to being correct.
We ended up with five or six cups. There are only four of us.
Mikayla's mashed potatoes without gravy came with gravy.
Being Customer #1 apparantly has no relationship to being "The customer is #1" or even being "the #1 Customer".

We sat and ate.

After a while, one of the kids makes an interesting observation.
"Hey! We're the only one's here!".

Well, of course. We're Customer #1.

A moment later we realize that she is saying that the workers aren't even here. It's unusually quiet for a restaurant. Weird... but not weird for KFC, in my opinion.

Whatever.

A few minutes later a female employee comes out from the kitchen and starts cleaning the wall with some heavilly scented industrial cleaner. The scent (or fumes is more like it) drifts over to us and all three start complaining. Time to pack up and go.

We load up into the car and Tanya notices a Geo Metro parked behind the restaurant with the driver's window part way down.

Tanya: "Hey, I found all the rest of the workers!"
Eric: "Where are they?"
Tanya points in the direction of the Geo where all the workers are stuffed inside the vehicle.
Smoking.

It may not sound funny, but it was.

I guess you had to be there.

Of course, after the discovery I had to roll down the window to get a blog photo, just to share with everyone. Unfortunately you can't really see the people in there.


KFC Story #3
This isn't really about KFC or their service, but I just need to remind everyone that one day Tanya mistakenly thought the drive through exit was the main road, drove down it the wrong direction and then had to exit the whole thing in reverse. It's true... and we like to talk about it often.

I don't have any pictures of that event, but I'm sure that one day it will surface on youtube.com or some 'craziest driver video' show on TLC after the survelliance videos are released.

~E

Gingerbread Houses

Every year our family decorates Gingerbread houses. Tanya says it's a tradition.

Well... the kids decorate Gingerbread houses.

Well... the kids decorate a small part of a Gingerbread house... and then eat a lot of candy.











More Thanksgiving Weekend stories to come...

Stay tuned.

You were right!

I followed YOUR advice and the turkey was fantastic!

Thank you very much.
Even the dog thought it was doggone good!


Happy Thanksgiving!