Thanksgiving Week

I am finally writing something again. Pretty despicable, I know. It has been awhile but I am back on track.


Thanksgiving Week commences with the Annual Gilbert Days 5K. This is our second year competing in this event with Jon's brother, Josh. This year, Jon's Aunt Sally joined us.

...It also took only two years for someone in the Blum family to get disqualified from the 5K. (Surprisingly, this is not the first disqualification from Parks & Rec, but in this sport it is.) Take a look at the picture above. Hint: the person not wearing a number. What a rule breaker! He actually got disqualified because he ran the race in 22 minutes and then turned around and ran the last leg again with me. (I did not slim my time as much as Jon. I actually had the same time as last year with a three second deviation.) Here is the incriminating picture.

I went to school for two days and then began the marathon of Thanksgiving celebration. Thanksgiving was a great day because it included my two favorites: rutabaga and Sweet Potato. I'm not one of those Green Bean Casserole fanatics. I surprised my Dad by visiting him at the hospital since he had to work. It was great to spend time with him and my mom and aunts.

On Friday, Jonathan went back to his alma mater to play basketball with his old high school teammates. It was great to see him play. Unfortunately, he played three hours of strenuous activity and thus, he had to take a nap. He didn't feel so hot and said he felt dehydrated when I woke him. The firefighter solution is to "hook a brother up" literally. And let's do it at the dining room table. And while we are at it, we can train anyone who is interesting in learning how to create a line for an IV.
It wasn't very long before they were on to bigger assignments. Jonathan had decided a week before that he thought it would be fun to do a night at the movies outside. Josh, Jon, & Ryan built a big screen using wood and a white sheet. They did a great job and a hour later we were out front with two fire pits, blankets, smores and How the Grinch Stole Christmas & Remember the Titans.

The last great adventure included sailing over Gilbert at 100 feet...and it wasn't by plane. It was in a big ladder. Jon took his cousin up who is very interested in the fire profession.

Matthew, you will appreciate this!

DIY PROJECT

For those of you who aren't familiar with the DIY network, it is a channel dedicating to "do it yourself" episodes everything from tiling to painting to drywalling. Jonathan loves this network and unfortunately we don't have this channel any longer. (Jon is devastated.)

I hate watching these shows because it makes me feel unproductive. It seems counterintuitive to watch other people do things. Since I am very much a doer, I get antsy watching other people do things and not be able to participate. (I also have the vice of impatience.) Nonetheless, there is the show called Rock Solid and they build rock walls and tile things. If Jon could be anything other than a firefighter, I think he would be Dean or Derek on Rock Solid. He is such a fan he has even sent them e-mails on questions and concerns he has. I have watched more Rock Solid than I ever wanted to.

Recently, I have been on a project roll - below are pictures of my latest project. Thanks to my lovely Aunt Kathy, I received two end tables. I spent some love and care on them. First, I sanded them down, put several fresh coats of paint, finished with some new hardware. I hope all those hours of watching DIY shows aren't in vain. I'm curious - what do you think?

My New Challenge

If you know me, you know I really like Coke Zero. My opinion-- it is the closest to the real thing. Yet, I have found I was drinking too much diet soda and Jon sends me e-mails constantly trying to scare me away with health research. I realized that it would help me to drink more water and since I live in the desert, we can't get enough moisture. Therefore, I have stopped drinking it. I quit cold turkey. I'm doing pretty good. Although, when I went on vacation, I enjoyed it a little bit. I told myself I will enjoy its goodness on rare occasions and vacations.

Here is a toast [of water] to this new resolution!

Here we go...

Jonathan and I have been together for over five years now. We are very similar in many ways - we both love to go up north to fish and hike. We also dream big. We both want to own a cabin somewhere some day and have a big family. Our political viewpoint is almost identical, ahem...both conservatives. I think the big things are the same, which is important but there is also a few things that cause for great polarization.... a good polarization or things would be boring.

This disparity became apparent yesterday. On June 25, 2009, both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson passed away. This is very sad news and I do not wish death upon anyone. However, in our family we like to be the first to break the news. Usually this means a text message with the name of the deceased or a telephone call. This drives Jonathan crazy. He thinks its sick. I try to console him by suggesting that I am Irish and can't help it.

Well, yesterday, I had two good friends text me to let me know Farrah had died. I was shocked and Jonathan was mad that other people outside of the family were now engaging in this type of behavior. A few hours later, I received more texts that Michael Jackson had passed. Jonathan went off to his corner shaking his head.

Shortly later we had a conversation. "I told you people always die in pairs of threes. Like appliances." I said snarkly to him. He replied, "Who are all the people that died Jo?" I responded, "Ed McMahon. Farrah Fawcett. Michael Jackson."

"What about David Carradine?" He responds quickly.

I say, "He doesn't count because I didn't know him."

"OK Jo." He rolls his eyes....

Hmmm....

I was hesitant about starting a blog for several reasons. On the age of the blackberry, reality TV, Facebook, Twitter, and various other forums, I feel these outlets allow for narcissism and self-indulgence to unfold. Yet, I myself love and use these devices and although people say do I really care you are "going to get coffee" or "I am off to work", there is something comforting in knowing what others are doing. We feel comforted in the fact that others are doing the little simple things as well. And aren't humans just curious little creatures?

Another reason that I am cautious is I don't have a child. Most people that have blogs these days post pictures and status updates of their child. This goes along with my whole narcissism thought process. Am I narcissistic for posting blogs?

Lastly, I worry about who reads this. How much information do I want to convey to readers (assuming I have any) and who will be reading this on the other side? There is something vulnerable about posting a virtual diary for anyone to read.

...I felt the urge to disclose all my hesitations but to counter-argue the main reason I write is: I want my brother to hear the crazy details and idiosyncrasies that occur back home. I have never moved but I have taken several extended vacations and its not the big things you miss. It's the small details that don't pop up in conversation where conversation doesn't bear revealing.

So here we go. I am now entering the age of blogging.