Turkey?

My mom sent me an email the other day asking what we'd like to eat for Thanksgiving dinner.

It seems like kind of an incongruous question, right? With only one possible answer? But she has a point. Usually for Thanksgiving it's my parents, my sister, me, and my mom's best friend and her family, which means somewhere in the range of 8-12 people. Usually Thanksgiving dinner is at the friend's house and then we celebrate Christmas with the same friends at my parents' house.

This year, however, my sister will be spending Thanksgiving with her fiance's family, and my mom's best friend and her family will be out of town spending the holiday with some of their extended family. Which means that our Thanksgiving will just be my parents, Torsten, and me.

And honestly, even though I love the way we normally celebrate? And will especially miss having my sister there? It will be nice to have a quieter, more low-key celebration this year. Plus, I'll see my sister at Christmas, which won't be far away.

But, the point is, since it will just be the four of us, we don't have to stick to tradition if we don't want to. So there's no need for turkey and all the trimmings unless we decide that's what we want.

So when my mom asked if there was anything else we'd rather have, my first thought was, "Lobster!" I love lobster and we never have it here, nor do we have a pot big enough to cook it in. Plus we always used to have lobster at my parents' house on New Year's Eve and now that we are pretty much never there on NYE, we almost never have lobster.

I thought Torsten would totally be on board with this plan, because he still talks about that one time he took a vacation to Maine and it was the best vacation ever because he spent the whole time with a beer in one hand and a lobster in the other.

HOWEVER. When I suggested to Torsten that we have lobster for Thanksgiving dinner, he gave me a look that was equal halves shocked and appalled and tragic puppy dog. And then he said, "But... you HAVE to have turkey on Thanksgiving. That's how it's ALWAYS DONE."

Does anyone else see the irony in him saying this? Like, oh, he's not even American? And he's only celebrated Thanksgiving THREE TIMES, ever?

Apparently, my husband is a traditionalist. Even if it's a tradition that's pretty much brand new to him.

But that's OK. I like turkey too. And stuffing. We'll have lobster some other time.

What about you? What do you traditionally eat on Thanksgiving? (Other than just the turkey, obviously.) Would you be open to a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner?

Fall + winter = flinter? wall?

So, that snow stuff? Totally showed up. I haven't measured today, but last night when I went out with the dog we were at over nine inches, and it was still snowing. And I know it was even more in some areas of Denver that are further west, closer to the mountains.

We didn't take many pictures, but we did snap a few, just for posterity. This is our street, last night:


Can you tell that at that point it had already been plowed twice?

And here's a photo of our front yard this morning (the street had just been plowed for the third time):


And I updated yesterday's post with a video of the dog frolicking in the snow, but if you missed it the first time, check it out here. She is pretty freaking cute (in my humble opinion).

Also yesterday, since we couldn't leave the house (other than to walk the dog--and thank god for proper snow boots when it comes to that), we finally got around to carving our pumpkin. We did buy one of those carving kits as recommended by most of you, and we used the tools, but the patterns were all too kooky for our taste. Since this is our first pumpkin (Torsten's first ever!), we wanted to stick with something simple and classic. So, we winged it:


Apologies for the crappy picture, but I think the pumpkin turned out pretty well. Torsten is pleased too. Plus, it was a great source for delicious roasted seeds. Yummy.

We also enjoyed our lovely wood-burning fireplace, which we've been using for a few weeks, but it becomes even cozier when there's snow outside. I've learned a thing or two about fireplaces in Denver since we started house hunting.

First of all, according to our realtor, wood-burning fireplaces are banned in new construction in Denver, and have been since, I believe, 1997. So, if your house is newer than that, you can only have a gas fireplace. This pretty much ruled out any house built after 1997 as far as we were concerned, because a wood-burning fireplace was a must for us (and we were lucky enough to end up with two).

The ban is in place for pollution reasons, and along the same lines, from November to March, there are "high-pollution days" in Denver, when you aren't allowed to use your wood-burning fireplace even if you have one. Of course, it seems like a difficult thing to enforce--somebody would have to report you, and they admit on their own website that you will pretty much just get a warning unless you are a serious repeat offender. Still, of course we'll comply, but I just hope that not every day all winter is considered a high-pollution day, because that would be a real disappointment (and bad for our energy bill).

Still, it's definitely feeling like winter around these parts at the moment. That jack-o'-lantern feels a bit incongruous, really.

Oh and P.S., I have a new post over at Bodies about trying to figure out how to best take advantage of the gym. I wrote it before we became snowbound, but I'm hoping that since the snow is supposed to stop this afternoon, the roads will be clear in time for me to make it to water aerobics tonight. We'll see.

Snow! Snow?

I don't know about the rest of Denver, but I seriously love snow, and I am really hoping that the promised snowstorm materializes with many inches. I know, I'm bad, wishing for ruined commutes and a city getting shut down, but I LOVE SNOW. And last winter, our first in Denver, was extremely mild.

I mean, you guys, we are READY for snow. The car has snow tires. We both have proper snow boots. The only member of our household (counting the car as a household member) who doesn't have special snow gear is the dog, and I'm relatively sure that her fur will be sufficient.

I also purchased earmuffs, the nice kind that fit around the back of your head instead of on the top like a headband. AND I bought a fleece-lined hat with ear flaps. I know, that should negate the need for earmuffs, but sometimes I don't FEEL like wearing a hat, but I still don't want my ears to be cold. So, I purchased both and now I'm set for any eventuality. Right?

OK, here's a photo of me in the hat. Don't judge:


We also have salt, and a snow shovel, and we're prepared to use them both! Well, actually, we already put down some of the salt. And we put our nice patio furniture in the garage, and picked up the dog's toys that were lying around the yard so they wouldn't end up buried there for the rest of the winter.

Also, you know how they always say you should stock up before a snowstorm? Buy gallons of water and whatnot? Well... we didn't do that. But we did bring in a bunch of firewood so it wouldn't get wet, and got some groceries so that we won't suffer for meals if we need to stay home for the next couple days.

Can I just say how much I love working from home at times like this? No worrying about the commute, no worrying about getting stuck somewhere, no worry about heinous snow-related traffic jams. Just home, with a fireplace and a doggy and unlimited hot chocolate. Dreamy.

Update: I took a video of Montana prancing in the snow we have so far (and as an aside, it's looking like we WILL be getting that ton of snow they've been predicting, since this isn't supposed to stop until tomorrow):



Now, let's just hope all these inches of snow actually materialize. It started snowing last night at around 9:00, and we took the dog for a walk before bed. By the time we went to sleep there was at least an inch of snow on the ground. Now I'm just hoping that all the promised other inches really show up, and that the storm doesn't just fizzle out. Because like I said? We are SET.

Questions I'm asking myself

1. What should we do for New Year's?
Last year we had friends over along with their new baby. We made a big dinner and sat around eating and chatting for hours, then toasted with champagne at midnight. It was lovely and relaxing and one of my favorite ways I've ever celebrated New Year's. (Further evidence of my domestic nature, I suppose.)

This year, we're living in Denver and those friends are living in Illinois. We do have friends here in Denver but they aren't of the same close nature and I imagine that they have closer friends that they'd rather spend the holiday with, you know? Assuming they're not out at some party or whatever.

So, really I guess I'm answering my own question. We'll probably spend New Year's in, just us and the dog. And that will have to be OK.

2. Will this weight-loss thing ever get easier?
I know surgery isn't the easy way out, and I'm OK with that. It has made the weight loss possible and sustainable, and I'm happy about that. It's working, so I have no regrets. But I guess I thought that it some point it would get easier. Not that the weight would melt off effortlessly, but that it would stop requiring quite so much work and thought, all the time. I suspect that this is because I'm close to being at restriction but not quite there (and my fantastic fourth fill relaxed over the course of the month, making it less effective, which is normal but still frustrating) and that after my next fill, or maybe the one after that, this WILL get easier. At least, that's what I'm hoping. In the meantime, I'm trying to just be glad that it's working at all, even if it's still quite difficult.

3. What are good reasons to wait to have a baby?
I have what I consider to be a very good reason to put off pregnancy: my surgery and my health. I think getting as healthy as possible pre-pregnancy, and having taken steps (such as surgery) that show you that those goals are possible and that you're not just delaying pregnancy forever to pursue a pipe dream, is a great reason to wait, especially when there's an end date on that waiting. But from there, things get fuzzier. For example, Torsten and I were talking and he was saying how much he wants a baby too, and how he would feel ready to have one right now if it weren't for work. He has some work stuff he wants to accomplish before he'll feel totally ready. He wants to be slightly more financially stable, too.

It's a worthy goal, and an understandable one, but for me it falls into the category of "if you think like that you'll never think you're ready so we might as well just do it now." Luckily it's not a sticking point because we're waiting thanks to my surgery anyway, and he agrees that if he isn't where he wants to be career-wise when the end point arrives, he can deal with it and having a baby will be the top priority anyway. So I'm glad we're on the same page with that. But with people for whom things aren't quite so clear-cut, I wonder what things are important enough to hold you back from making the leap. Especially if it's a leap you're dying to make.

4. How long does it take to reach the "acceptance" stage?
I know that Torsten's parents struggle with the fact that he lives so far away, and I can totally understand that. I really can. I know it is difficult to have a child living on a different continent, especially when your child isn't always so good at calling regularly. But how long does it take until you become resigned/used to the situation, and make the best of it, and stop complaining about it, both overtly and passively? At some point can we expect the comments to stop? Or are we just fooling ourselves in hoping that some day our choices will be received more positively, and that they will really look at us as a unit that makes decisions together?

5. What in the hell is wrong with my computer?
It has only just started doing this thing where the touchpad seems to "click" on its own so I am suddenly not in the window I was in, or the cursor moves while I type so that half the text ends up randomly inserted in a previous paragraph. It is driving me NUTS.

Domesticity

Here's what I've learned about myself since moving to Denver: I'm very domestic. And I like it that way.

When I say "domestic" I don't mean that I like keeping house, per se. I'm not exactly a neat freak, and I only cook on rare occasions (Torsten has pretty much taken over the cooking duties since we moved into our house, and I like it that way).

No, what I mean is that I like staying in. I like being at home. And when I do go out, I like to do things that also feel fairly domestic.

For example: I like to go for walks and hikes. I like to go to the gym. I like doing the grocery shopping and other errands. I like going to the dog park. I like going to restaurants. In short, I like routine.

This weekend we ran some errands. We took the dog for a walk in a nearby park in the snow. We watched football. We went to the dog park. We cuddled in front of the fire. We slept. We cooked. And it was lovely and perfect.

I don't like going out to bars or clubs. I don't feel the need to hit up the latest festival or opening or museum exhibit. We subscribe to a local magazine, and I do peruse the calendar for listings of things we'd be interested in, but they tend to be more along the lines of a nearby farmer's market, and not so much with latest hip hangout spot. We hardly ever even bother going to the movies, even when there's something playing that we both want to see.

It's not that we never leave the house, or wish we didn't have to. We do get out and about. But our interests are in very specific things, like exploring the mountains and foothills and parks nearby.

This is part of why we didn't want to live in DC anymore. DC is a great city in a lot of ways, and it is priced accordingly. To me, it is absolutely worth paying the high cost of living in a big city if you love that city and take advantage of its unique offerings. We didn't. We didn't love DC and we never went to the museums or fairs or anything else that was going on. In fact, we tried to stay away from those things because we didn't like the hassle of the crowds.

So for us, the cost of living in DC wasn't worth the benefit. And there were several simple things missing--things like the ability to own a car without huge hassle, and having easy access to a Target and other suburban amenities, and affordable housing.

And yet, I still remember the comment a friend made when we told him we were moving to Denver. He said, "What a surprise. I always thought of you guys as more urban."

And at the time, you know what? I was offended by that. I thought we WERE urban. We handled living in DC. We even liked it. We weren't intimidated by the pace or the atmosphere or the people. We were at home there. And I was all like, we ARE urban. We're young urban professionals--the very definition of yuppie. And we like it. And Denver is a city too.

But now, I've realized that actually? We aren't urban. We like our house and our peaceful neighborhood. We like living in a dog-friendly area with lots of open spaces. We like having a car and driving to the mall if we need to run an errand, instead of spending an hour transferring on the Metro and the bus. We like having access to so many gorgeous hiking areas. We like Denver. And yeah, we like the downtown area too. But mostly just to have a nice meal and then take a nice walk.

And I like it this way. I'm domestic, I'm not urban, and I'm very happy with things the way they are. And it only took me 25 years to figure that out.

Awesome/not awesome

Awesome = This whole coming to the office, meeting people, catching up with people, hearing some gossip thing
Not awesome = Realizing how many subtle little issues and interactions I miss since I work from home.

Awesome = I have an Economy Plus seat on my flight home. This means several inches of extra leg room.
Not awesome = It's a middle seat.

Awesome = How much weight I've lost so far.
Not awesome = I seem to be in between sizes at the moment. Everything is either slightly baggy or slightly tight.

Awesome = Going home today and seeing my husband and my dog.
Not awesome = It takes a 3.5-hour flight to get there.

Awesome = Not having drunk a single Diet Coke since before my surgery in May.
Not awesome = Having no non-carbonated, calorie-free drink option except water unless I'm at home with my Crystal Light.

Awesome = Seeing my sister several times while I was in DC
Not awesome = Not seeing her again until Christmas (though now that I think about it, that's not so far away, which leads me to...)

Awesome = The holidays are coming up.
Not awesome = Oh god, the preparation. And the calories in the eggnog.

Awesome = It's very nearly the weekend.
Not awesome = There's pretty much nothing that's not awesome about that.

Celebrity crushes

Awhile back (like probably two years at this point), a meme-type thing was circling the blogosphere and everyone was making lists of celebrities they thought were hot. I kept meaning to do it at the time, but I never got around to it. And also, bizarrely, I find it difficult to keep track of the celebrities I like. I'll see an actor and think to myself, "That person would be on my list!" And then five minutes later, I've forgotten all about it.

Really, that's probably a good thing. No unhealthy obsession with celebrities over here, right?

Anyway, I've managed to collect my thoughts enough to pull my top five. Think of this kind of like that list that Ross laminated on the episode of Friends back in the day, except without giving consideration to gender, and also I'm not sure I'd necessarily want to have sex with any of these people. But still, the same idea.

Anyway, here they are, numbered but only for organizational purposes. Not in order of preference.

1. Lindsay Price. God, that woman is hot. Seriously, cannot get over the gorgeousness. She is the main reason that I was sad when Lipstick Jungle was canceled. Yes, even more than Robert Buckley. He wasn't my type. Apparently, she is.


2. Alan Rickman. OK, I know this is probably a strange choice, and that I'm likely quite alone in this one. But the man is just captivating. And that VOICE. And yes, I especially like him in his role as Snape. I know, I'm weird.


3. Lucy Liu. The woman is just freaking breathtaking. And classy. And stylish. I mean really, what else is there to say?


4. John Stamos. He was hot as Uncle Jesse, despite the mullet, but he's only gotten hotter over the years. Seriously.


5. Emma Watson. I know, two actors from Harry Potter on this list. But this girl is just gorgeous, and smart too, and I love her fashion sense. I remember watching the first Harry Potter movie and wondering what they would do if the actors turned out ugly when they grew up. This was definitely not a concern for Emma Watson. (Maybe Daniel Radcliffe, though.)


Who's on your list?

For the record, I'm a Ms.

So it turns out that when you go to your office for the first time in eight months? All these people decide they want to MEET with you. You know, in person.

Which, on the one hand, is kind of cool, because I like my job, and my coworkers, and it's nice to get to talk to them in person for several reasons. First of all, one thing I've noticed about being conferenced into live meetings? It's really hard to get a word in edgewise. I don't know if it's because the connection isn't good or people aren't paying attention to the phone or what, but sometimes I'll try six or seven times to say something, only to get cut off by people who appear not to hear me whatsoever. I guess I didn't realize how much people rely on visual cues in meetings that someone else is about to speak?

Plus, you know, it's nice to get some face time and see people and read facial expressions and all the rest.

But also unfortunately the fact that I'm in meetings for most of the day doesn't mean that I don't still have actual work to do, so I've been very busy. Not too busy, though, to take a break to have lunch with my sister yesterday. And then I had dinner with her too. And hopefully I'll have lunch with her again before I leave on Friday. Plus I have dinner plans with another friend on Thursday. Definitely the best part of coming on a business trip to a city you used to live in.

In the meantime, while I get back to work, I direct you to three posts by other bloggers that I found very interesting:

Angella is writing about the Miss, Ms., Mrs. question over at Work It, Mom.
Jamie is writing about her take on my recent post about fat over at Bodies in Motivation.
Swistle is writing about some common marital gripes (and commenter gripes) over on her personal blog (the comments are fascinating too).

Happy reading!

Business tripping

Last night was my first night in DC since we moved to Denver eight months ago. And can I say that it's a little weird to be staying in a hotel in a city I'm used to calling home? And even weirder to be here without Torsten?

Though I will say, if one of us is going to be on a business trip, I think I prefer it to be me. I don't like sleeping alone in our house. It starts feeling so cavernous and creaky. A hotel feels more secure.

But speaking of the hotel... well, it's conveniently located. And the room that I'm staying in was just remodeled, and is lovely. However, I have three complaints I'd like to file:

1. The price of the hotel is exorbitant, and yet breakfast is not included.
2. The price of the hotel is exorbitant, and yet they charge $12.95 a day for Internet access.
3. The price of the Internet is exorbitant, and yet it ISN'T EVEN WIRELESS. AND the hotel-provided wire (which cannot be switched out) is very short. So, no laptop in bed. Or even in the armchair. Only at the desk.

I think I would prefer a slightly shabbier room with free wi-fi. Right? Am I being unreasonable here?

It does suck to spend the week away from Torsten, and I'm still irritated because I was really hoping we'd be able to schedule our business trips simultaneously so that we could come to DC together, and that didn't work out. However, it's kind of nice to come in to my office and see everyone again. We have, I believe, nine people who were hired after I moved, so it was good to meet them, and great to catch up face-to-face with colleagues I've been working with for the last couple of years.

It feels a little funny to be in an office again, though. Plus, I've become a tad paranoid that I'm going to pick up germs and get sick. Working from home creates a nice little germ-free cocoon, you know?

Still, it's good to be here. I think a week will be just about the right length.

Also, luckily, we have Skype video chat, so we could watch each other and the Broncos game at the same time:

Would you go to the Olympics?

With the recent announcement that the 2016 Summer Olympics will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Torsten and I started talking about the various upcoming Olympic games, and how excited we are (or aren't) to watch them.

I've never really been that into the Olympics, but once we started talking about it I realized I have strong memories of watching various Olympic events dating back to the 1992 games in Barcelona, when I was 8 years old (I remember watching the swimming events with my sister while we were visiting our aunt and uncle in Seattle).

So, I did a bit of research into the upcoming venues for the Olympics:

2010 Winter games: Vancouver, BC, Canada (Feb. 12-28)
2012 Summer games: London, England (Jul. 27-Aug. 12)
2014 Winter games: Sochi, Russia (Feb. 7-23)
2016 Summer games: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Aug. 5-21)
2018 and beyond: TBD (though only three cities are bidding for the 2018 Winter games)

Then Torsten made an offhand comment about how since his best friend lives in London, we should take advantage of having free accommodations and go to the 2012 games. My instinctive reaction was along the lines of, "Ha ha ha ha HAAAAA yeah right," but then I started thinking about it and actually? Well, maybe it would be kind of awesome.

The reason my initial reaction was so negative is because in general, I imagine that during the Olympics is the worst possible time to visit a city. It will be massively expensive and massively crowded. The weather will likely be very hot or very cold, prices for everything will be inflated, and tourists will be crawling all over the place. Wouldn't it make more sense to visit a city when the Olympics weren't going on, so as to have a bit more space?

And, you know, I think this principle absolutely applies to cities you've never been to before and may never visit again, like Sochi or Rio. But London? Well, we've both been there multiple times. Torsten's best friend lives there, and we intend to visit him as much as possible over the course of our lives, so we'll definitely be going again. So, if we go once when it's really crowded? Who cares, right? We can skip all the tourist stuff because we've seen it before and will have opportunities to see it again. And we won't have to pay exorbitant prices for a hotel.

Really, if you're ever going to go to the Olympics, these would be the ideal circumstances under which to go, right? Yes, the city will be more crowded than usual, but given our lack of a need to do anything specific, we could totally deal with that. And the summer games are definitely more interesting than the winter games. (Plus, who wants to watch outdoor sports in the snow?)

So, yeah, 2012 is a bit far away and we're not exactly making plans right now (and I have no idea how much tickets to Olympic events cost, but I imagine they aren't cheap), and a lot would depend on work and finances and babies, but... well, it's an idea. One that I'm definitely more interested in than I was two days ago.

What about you? Would you want to go to the Olympics? If so, would you rather go when they were held in a brand new city or one that was more familiar?

Friday Five

1. I have a business trip next week, which means that I have to wear actual work clothes instead of my normal work-from-home, nobody-can-see-me attire. And... well, let's see, I've lost almost 50 pounds since the last time I was in the office. And I haven't exactly updated my work wardrobe since then. And I'm not about to spend money on new work clothes that I will wear for one week, and that will then be too big by the next time I have to go to the office. So! Loose skirts it will be! At least I have some sweaters that fit appropriately, and my office is business casual. And I have cute boots. I'll just stay away from skirts that are supposed to be fitted, and I think it will be fine.

2. I've had a couple of dreams recently in which I was pregnant. Unfortunately, in reality I am not. Of course I am also not TRYING to be, but that doesn't make the situation any less unfortunate, because I would LIKE to be. Now, please. It is so frustrating that I can't try to get pregnant at the moment. I know, time flies, soon enough I will be pregnant and soon enough after that I'll be old and my kids will be grown, but right now? The time when I am allowed to be pregnant feels very far away.

3. An unpleasant, but minor, side effect of my surgery is that sometimes if I eat too fast, or take too big of a bite, I burp. Sometimes loudly, and sometimes multiple times. Torsten is used to it, and offers sympathy instead of disgust, but it can be really awkward in public. I have gotten pretty good at disguising it, but still. Not pleasant.

4. I got a haircut last night. Nothing major, just some trimming, shaping, layering, etc. But after the cut, just to try something new, the stylist did my hair with a curling iron. I have never used one of those in my life. I thought they wouldn't do anything since my hair is naturally curly. But wow, does the curling iron ever create a different kind of curl. I didn't take a picture but my hair was very SJP in SATC Season... when was it that she cut her hair? Season 5? Anyway, that's what it looked like. It was a little bit awesome but I am mostly glad that my natural curls do not look like that.

Edited to add: Fine, here's a crappy webcam photo of the curling-iron 'do. Of course, this is after sleeping on it when most of the curl is gone. But it's the best I can do at this point, since I don't actually own a curling iron myself.


5. Nilsa's post yesterday offering suggestions on little things we can do to save energy reminded me to finally figure out how to use our thermostat's programmable settings. Of course it's not as important for us since we work from home and therefore have to heat the house all day, but it will still help. I felt very pleased with myself for figuring out how to do it. Now all we have to do is go through it for a day or two and figure out where the custom program needs tweaking. I encourage you to check out her post to see if there are any little things you can be doing to cut back as well.

Neighborhood associations

Last night our neighborhood homeowners association held its annual get-together at a local pizza place. We have lived in our house for six months and have so far only actually met our immediate next-door neighbors on either side, so we were looking forward to meeting some more people in the neighborhood.

And the dinner didn't disappoint. It was interesting, actually. I had been hoping to meet a few younger couples but there weren't many there. I was definitely the only 20-something present. A huge majority of the people at the dinner were elderly, well beyond retirement age. There were a few young families there, with small children and parents in their thirties. And we did enjoy talking to everyone we met, including the older people.

In fact, we made a couple good connections. One neighbor offered to lend us the dog-training tool we'd been planning on buying, while another is a retired financial planner and gave us the name and contact info for another financial planner he recommends. We also talked to people who've been living in the neighborhood for thirty years or more, and got some perspective on the history of the neighborhood.

The two most interesting things, as far as I was concerned, were a) talking to some of the parents about the local schools, and b) talking to the president of the association.

The school stuff didn't really teach us anything new, per se, but it was interesting to get some different perspectives on the school situation from people who are very aware of the current issues with our school district.

But talking to the HOA president was really fascinating. Our HOA is pretty laid back, thank god--although actually we looked into that a bit before we bought the house. We were concerned about having the type of HOA that severely limits what you can do with your house and sends you angry letters every time your grass gets more than a quarter-inch long. So we drove around the neighborhood and saw houses of all different colors, including one that's bright blue, and lawns in all different states, and figured that the HOA couldn't be that bad. And it isn't.

The guy was telling us, though, that the biggest problem came from this one house that was being fixed and flipped by someone who wanted to put on a 30-year roof when the HOA demands at least a 50-year roof. Apparently they got into it and finally the HOA won and the house was given a lifetime roof. Which is not that interesting... until we realized that he was talking about our house. So now we have a better roof than we otherwise would have! Thanks, HOA!

The funniest moment of the night came from one of the young mothers who told me that when she and her husband bought their house, their realtor described the neighborhood as being made up of "newlyweds and nearly-deads." And that's exactly right.

Not to be crass, but there will be a lot of turnover in this neighborhood over the next ten years. And while it's lovely to see all the original owners of the homes and talk to them, it will be nice when they start moving out and downsizing and a lot of young families closer to our age move in. I think this neighborhood is going to be an awesome long-term choice for us.

What about you? Do you have an HOA or condo association or anything placing any limitations on your homeowners' choices? Do you know your neighbors? Do you like them?

Pumpkin carving questions

We've decided to get a bit more into the Halloween spirit than previously planned, and go beyond some candy and the porch light and actually get ourselves a pumpkin. The pumpkin itself has already been purchased and is currently sitting in our garage.

So... now what? When I was a kid my dad was in charge of pumpkin carving and my mom was in charge of pumpkin seed roasting. Nobody in our family really liked eating the pumpkin itself so we never did anything with that. I remember my dad cutting open the top of the pumpkin, and working with my sister to scoop out the guts and seeds and dump them into a mixing bowl. Then my mom would clean off the seeds and put them on a baking pan to roast while my dad would carve.

I think I can handle the pumpkin seed roasting (with a bit of help from Master Chef Google), but the carving is where I'm a little stuck. And Torsten isn't of much help--apparently Germany only recently started celebrating Halloween, well after his childhood ended. I don't think he's ever participated in the creation of a jack-o'-lantern before.

I'm trying to think back on how my dad did it, and I'm pretty sure he just hacked into the pumpkin with a carving knife. We didn't do anything special beforehand, and our designs were always pretty simple (although one year he did carve a dog face into the pumpkin, which was awesome).

But my sister (who is up on these things because she has two soon-to-be-stepchildren) says that pumpkin carving is actually a lot more complicated than that. Apparently you're supposed to thin out the inside of the pumpkin first? And you buy pumpkin carving kits with special knives and design suggestions? And it's all very complicated?

So what this all boils down to is that I need your help, because I have several questions:

1. Should we just hack away at our pumpkin with a knife, or do we need to do something more sophisticated? If so, what should it be?

2. Once we've carved the damn thing, do we put an actual candle in it? Or some sort of electric something or other that's a tad less flammable near children's costumes?

3. Do we have to worry that if we put the pumpkin on our porch, some bored teenagers will smash it? Should we put it in our window instead?

4. Should we do something cooking-related with the pumpkin innards (other than the seeds)? If so, what?

5. If you're carving a pumpkin this year, what kind of design are you going to do?

Fat is not that bad

I've been thinking about something recently, something that seems really obvious to me and that probably everyone else would naturally agree with, except that based on small comments and actions, I'm not sure they really would agree. In fact I have no real perspective on this and no way of knowing if this is some sort of big revelation or more of an "oh duh" statement.

But here's the thing: being fat isn't the most terrible thing in the world. It isn't even close.

In a literal sense, of course that's true. Obviously, pretty much all of us would rather be fat than watch our loved ones be murdered or something equally horrifying.

But I'm talking on the level of personal problems, here. It seems that we would all do almost anything to avoid being fat. That we all have this horror of being fat. That we all think about it constantly and if we are fat, hate it, and if we aren't fat, try everything to avoid becoming fat and also beat ourselves up if we even get nearer to fat than we were before (i.e., gain a couple pounds).

And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. Clearly not. I mean, I just had freaking weight loss surgery and that is obviously all about not being fat anymore. Everyone has a weight they're comfortable with, and everyone wants to be healthy, and there's nothing at all wrong with trying to achieve those things. I support that.

And I will also be the first to admit that being fat does have a profound impact on your life. I think most of my readers know this, as I have written about it before (specifically here).

It sucks to be fat. Really, it does. And it sucks to be even just kind of overweight, and not actually fat. And I think that's why people get all up in arms about the use of the word "fat"--because we use it to describe such a broad spectrum of weights, that of course people who fall on the more extreme end of the spectrum don't appreciate it when the term is used to describe bodies that they could only dream of having.

But it's not the end of the world, being fat. It's not the end of the world weighing more than you'd like to weigh, period. Yes, it can be a problem, and yes, if your weight is a problem for you and your health or sense of well-being then I am all for trying to rectify that in a healthy way.

But we've taken our fear of fat too far. The hand-wringing about the "obesity epidemic"--especially considering that the numbers discussed in regards to the epidemic include people with a BMI in the low 30s, which is really not fat for a lot of people, because BMI is a very flawed statistic, and only very few people actually fall into the category of "morbidly obese," or into a category where their weight actually creates health concerns for them--is over the top.

But it's more than that. It's people refusing to be in photos with their children because they hate how they look because they think they weigh too much. It's people torturing themselves, beating themselves up because they think they need to lose weight. It's people creating huge mental angst for themselves or limiting what they think they can do based on concerns about their weight.

I see this all the time. And mostly it's from people who aren't even fat. They weigh more than they'd like to, sure, and some of them are overweight, and it's totally legit for all of them to be trying to lose weight and get to a size they're more comfortable with.

And I totally support that. I'm not saying that just because you're not as fat as I am, you don't have a right to be concerned about your weight. This isn't a game of relativity for me.

But what I am saying is that it makes me sad when people let their weight get in the way of their lives. No matter if they're morbidly obese or just a little bit above their comfort zone.

I'm saying that I am fat, truly fat, and I have been even fatter, and yet I am happy with my life. I do pretty much everything that I want to do. I've achieved goals that I've set for myself. I've had thoughts of oh, maybe I'm too fat to do that, or oh, maybe this person will be judging me when I meet them because I'm so fat, or oh, maybe I shouldn't post this picture on my blog because you can see my whole body and I'm so fat.

Of course I've had those thoughts. But then I've set aside the fat concerns and just done it anyway.

I met Torsten online. Of course I was afraid he'd think I was hideously fat when I met him in person, even though he'd seen photos of me. Of course I was incredibly nervous walking into the restaurant to meet him for the first time, that he would hate me or think I was hideous or pretend not to recognize me. And of course none of that happened. And of course it was worth forcing myself past my own fat hangups and taking the risk. And the reward has been amazing.

That's all I'm saying. It sucks to be fat and I'm glad I'm doing something about it. But, if you think you're fat or even just a little bit overweight or even not overweight but still weighing more than you're comfortable with--and so on--by all means, do something to fix it. But don't put everything else on hold until you get there.

Road trip! With photos!

Well. The trip was amazing. And yet I'm glad to be back. It was the right length of time.

Everything went great. Apparently it's been very cold and rainy/snowy in Denver over the past week, so we picked the right time to go. Everywhere we went, the weather was amazing. It was the perfect time to be in a convertible. Traveling with the dog wasn't difficult at all; everywhere we went was stunningly beautiful; we were able to relax and just enjoy being together. It was lovely.

I won't even attempt any sort of play-by-play, since we did so much. I'll just give some highlights. But before I get into that, a general description of the route we took:

• South to Santa Fe for a weekend
• West to Arizona to see the Grand Canyon and other sights and visit my aunt and uncle in Prescott (in the northern mountains)
  
• North to Moab, Utah
• East back to Denver

So, there you have it. And you can see photos of everything we saw in the full set here (this time I even added descriptions). And of course I've included a few of my favorite photos in this post.

So, onto the highlights!

Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona was nothing like I was expecting, but it was absolutely beautiful. Specifically, I loved the Painted Desert. So gorgeous.



New Mexico was beautiful, and we liked Santa Fe. But we were struck by the huge contrast between the obvious poverty surrounding cities like Santa Fe and Taos and the cities themselves that cater solely to better-off tourists. Of course, we fell into that second group so we were only exacerbating the problem. But it was very striking. And we found Taos to be incredibly tacky, despite hearing raves about the town from friends.



The Grand Canyon was spectacular. I've seen it before, but I guess I didn't remember it that well because again, it was nothing like I was expecting. It was beautiful and at times you could see the Colorado River at the bottom, but it didn't look quite like my mental image of a canyon. It was a lot more... three-dimensional, I guess. But amazing.


It's so nice to have family in the west. The three days we spent with them were super relaxing, and we went on several nice hikes while we were there. Plus, they had a dog for Montana to play with, and they live near Sedona, which is beautiful but sufficient to see in a day, as far as we were concerned.



We absolutely adored Arches National Park in Utah. At first we didn't see any arches and we thought we'd gone crazy, but then we started noticing them. And once you started seeing them you saw them everywhere. Though I'm still a little disappointed that we didn't see any of the two-inch arches that the brochure said you could find in the park. And also, dogs weren't allowed on any of the trails, which was really too bad. Although it was good we had a convertible, because we could leave Montana in the car with the top down while we hiked.



The west, especially the southwest, is gorgeous. I'm so glad we live here. Maybe on our next road trip we'll check out the more northwestern states like Montana and South Dakota. I can't wait.

Hitting the road

I still can't get over how gorgeous fall in Colorado is. The big sky, the mountains, the changing trees... seriously, it's spectacular.

I can only hope that it's as lovely in New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, because we're leaving for our road trip today! In about an hour, actually. There was awhile there when I didn't think it would ever get here, but now I'm glad we scheduled it this late in the year, because WOW is it ever the right time for a vacation. And the weather is spectacular

Seriously, we finally managed to find the time to sit down and go through the guidebook and make a list of possible things to do in each of our destinations? And now I am beyond excited about this trip. It is going to be amazing.

In the meantime, in lieu of a real post (must finish packing!), I leave you with this post over at Bodies, contemplating the issue of how I'm going to deal with 10 straight days of eating out.

It'll be quiet here at the blog next week, but then I'll be back! Hopefully massively refreshed and armed with photos.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Animal cruelty

They make these expensive tests, for dogs, that will tell you exactly what breed, or mix of breeds, they are. Some people I've met at the dog park have done it. I think it costs about $200. I have a vague curiosity about Montana's specific breed mix, but we have a pretty good idea of what she is, and I wouldn't spend $200 to have those guesses confirmed. What I have thought is that I would pay good money if there was a test that would tell me her personal history--where she came from and what her life was like.


Because the details are patchy. The prison program got her from a mill rescue program. I talked to the mill rescue program and they didn't have any records on her specifically, but told me that she was rescued from a mill in Missouri. I asked why she would be in a mill as a mixed breed and they said that mills often mate two different breeds and call it a "designer breed." I asked how they were able to rescue dogs from mills and she said they had informants who let them know when dogs were scheduled for destruction. That's all we know.


Last night Torsten and I were talking about how Montana is coming with us on our road trip, and how she has no idea that her first-ever vacation is coming up. And we were saying how for her, every day is like a vacation. And Torsten commented on what a lucky dog she is. And it's true, she is--now. But what about the mistreatment she suffered for the first three years of her life?


I look at this sweet dog all curled up in her dog bed, rolling on her back for a tummy scratch whenever one of us comes near. I watch her nuzzle her head against a guest's leg after knowing them for five minutes. I watch her wrestle with other dogs at the dog park, and waiting excitedly for them to get up if they end up on the ground. I watch her pounce on a tennis ball and carry it around with her in circles. I watch her sleep in her crate all cuddled with her mat. I watch her poke her head out the car window to check out what's going on around her. I watch her pick her way delicately around obstacles, and eat her dinner one kibble at a time. I watch her wag her tail any time either of us even comes near her.


How could anyone ever be cruel to this dog, or any dog? How could anyone betray the trust of this, the sweetest creature to exist? How is it possible that anyone could do anything but love her? How is it possible that after all the terrible things she suffered at the hands of cruel people who ultimately planned to destroy her, she is still so trusting and so loving?


On second thought, I'm not sure I would really want to know the details of her life before she came to us. I think it would be too painful.