Chrissie is up and about. She normally wakes up very slowly and is quite “grumpy” in the morning so it was hard to tell if she was feeling better or not. But she wolfed down 2 pieces of toast for breakfast and is on her way to recovery. She’s only working with one ‘nostril’ though so she isn’t fully back yet. I’m hoping by Friday she’ll be ready to tackle the laundry 🙂

Don’t look now, but there are more Baby Dan pics up on The Walls Family page. Man that baby is a cute little chunker. I can’t wait to see him in January. When nobody’s looking I’ll pinch his chubs and blame it on Chrissie! Uh oh, I think my wife is having too much of an influence on my naturally sweet and innocent nature…

Many of you have been asking about Chrissie and I wanted to thank you for your support and love. Her cold came on suddenly Sunday night and by Monday morning she was sick as a dog (but not Arite). She’s a little better today and able to pick up a sewing needle – a good craft girl can not be kept down!

I’m on swing shift this week and am working from 1 – 10pm which is nice because I can leave a little early and no is there to notice (he he). So in the mornings I’ve been cooking, cleaning, and making sure the patient rests – which is more difficult than you would think. Right now I’m trying to remember how the washing machine works. If you have a shirt with white and brown stripes does that count as a dark or light piece of clothing? This laundry thing is really complex. Hopefully Chrissie’s clothes won’t all be grey by the time she’s better…

Hello everyone,

Chrissie has been feeling a bit under the weather since last night and is completely incapacitated on our couch right now.

click to enlarge

The animals, sensing her weakness, have allowed her into their territory to recover.

So, for the near-future I will be taking over Chrissie’s Blogging duties…

It’s been incredibly windy here in Portland. So windy, in fact, that when Artie and I, upon our morning walk, turned a corner and the howling gale crashing down from the Columbia Gorge hit us square in the chest Artie’s floppy ears shot out from his head and I thought he was going to be swept away flying-nun style.

But, the best thing about a chill wind is it necessitates a fire! I love making big roaring fires. Our neighbors gave us a load of seasoned cedar and oak and it crackles and burns with a fierceness. It is truly grand. But I’ll save the tale of the smoke detector for Chrissie to tell. Hopefully, by the time she’s recovered the strength to type, she’ll have forgotten the incident, but I dont think so.

Just a quick technical note: our guest map is back!

We’ve lost the previous entries, but this just gives you a chance to be witty all over again.

Use the menu on the left, or the link above, to make your mark on Chrissierocks.com

The turkey has been eaten and the Christmas lights have been hung. We are now, officially, in crunch time. According to my personal time table, the next two weeks will be crutial to obtaining maximum Christmas happiness. Presents to finish, cards to write, rooms to decorate – this is the big push.

The only one who appears unaffected by this manic pace is, as always, my dog. I swear he could sleep through a herd of elephants. Unless, of course, those elephants had food. Then he’d wake up quick enough.

And as the pace accelerated, Kevin & I had our yearly Christmas Argument. Kevin is a big believer in the idea that it’s more fun to give than receive. (As most of you know, I’m more into receiving – hee hee.) And so he goes pretty much overboard on presents for everyone each year. I, however, am the practical one who has to balance the checkbook and it’s my duty to reign him in each December. Lets just say the man is deadly with a credit card. But it all ended in a friendly compromise. (On an aside, I discovered that with some credit cards, you can set up email alerts whenever you hit a certain balance. How cool is that?!?! At last, a way to keep tabs on my spendy husband!)

Speaking of presents, if you are looking for that perfect gift for Kevin, I am the happy keeper of the Kevbo Christmas List 2002. So if you need ideas or inspiration about what to put under his christmas tree this year, drop me an email and I’ll send a suggestion or two your way.

Ho Ho Ho!

And the week is almost over! Don’t you just love short weeks? Kevin is so very happy to be free after a mere three days of work. Actually, I don’t know how productive he’s been this week as he has been spending much time coming up with his Thanksgiving Meal Plan (TMP).

Now, what is your Number 1 Thanksgiving Day regret? It’s the food, right? All this delicious food gets passed around the table, you fill your plate until it’s ready to burst, and no matter how hard you try, you just can’t eat it all. Knowing this is the only time you get goodies like turkey, stuffing, and cranberries, you pop the button on your pants and eat until it hurts. Right?

Well, Kevin has decided this eat-all-in-sight approach is the wrong way to approach the Thanksgiving table. Instead, he’s come up with the TMP.

First, you scope out the table and list each food item in order of rarity. For example, if the only time you ever see a turkey is in November, then turkey would go to the top of the rarity list. Things like bread or even plain old mashed potatoes can be eaten any old time so they go to the bottom of the list.

Once the list is properly ordered, you fill your plate according to plan. Unique food items like the oyster stuffing or grandma’s famous cranberry chutney take a large part of the plate while the mundane items such as salad or rolls are lucky to make the cut at all. This way, you don’t waste precious stomach space on the everyday items.

Now is that a plan or what? Yes, Kevin is quite sure that with this new approach to the Thanksgiving food, he’ll be able to gorge himself and not have any regrets at the end of the meal.

My own plan is much easier. I focus on the major food items and ignore the rest. For me, Thanksgiving dinner is one part turkey, one part stuffing, one part mashed potatoes. Cover all with gravy. Add one scoop of green bean casserole for your veggies and you’re good to go. I pass on everything else. No cranberries, no yam, no sweet potatoes, no salad. I guess I’m more of a purest than Kevin.

But whatever your preference, take the time, while you’re stuck in traffic or in line at the supermarket, to plan our your own tactical approach to the holiday table. You’ll thank me for it!