SMZb

Books read: 2009.

2010-01-06T17:17:00.001-06:00

This post is mainly for archiving purposes. Of course, feel free to comment on it if you wish. The most recent book read is listed first, with the current book in bold. Projected future reads are listed in italics.

Note: I'll be discontinuing these lists now that 2009 is done. My full reading list is available over at LibraryThing.

The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe
The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe
The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe
Exodus From the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe
Calde of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe
Lake of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe
Nightside the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe
The Tower of Fear by Glen Cook
There Are Doors by Gene Wolfe
Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
The Terror by Dan Simmons
Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
The Ten Thousand by Paul Kearney
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
Return of the Crimson Guard by Ian C. Esslemont
Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days by Alastair Reynolds
Judge by Karen Traviss
Ally by Karen Traviss
Matriarch by Karen Traviss
The World Before by Karen Traviss
Crossing the Line by Karen Traviss
City of Pearl by Karen Traviss
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader by James Luceno
Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover
Labyrinth of Evil by James Luceno
Shardik by Richard Adams
Prince of Chaos by Roger Zelazny
Knight of Shadows by Roger Zelazny
Sign of Chaos by Roger Zelazny
Blood of Amber by Roger Zelazny
Trumps of Doom by Roger Zelazny
The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard
Rhialto the Marvellous by Jack Vance
Faith & Doubt by John Ortberg
Cugel's Saga by Jack Vance
The Eyes of the Overworld by Jack Vance
The Dying Earth by Jack Vance
The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny
The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny
Sign of the Unicorn by Roger Zelazny
The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny
Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
Transformers by Alan Dean Foster
Transformers: Ghosts of Yesterday by Alan Dean Foster
The Wizard by Gene Wolfe
The Knight by Gene Wolfe
Legend by David Gemmell
Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor by Matthew Stover
The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
The Urth of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

Books read: 2008

Awesome lamburger recipe.

2009-11-03T10:26:00.006-06:00

A few weeks ago at the grocery store, I picked up a pound of ground lamb on a whim. I've always loved lamb, and thought it might be interesting to try a "lamburger". While the rest of my family ate plain ol' hamburgers last night, I fried up a couple of lamburgers. The first thing I did was go online to Superior Farms' website, to see what their seasoning suggestions were. Armed with a couple of ideas, I went to work.

They were DELICIOUS. This is basically what I did:

Season ground lamb with:
salt & pepper
Worcestershire sauce
garlic powder
thyme
(and I would have tried adding some rosemary had we had any)

Form into patties and fry (or grill) until cooked through.

Serve on a bun and top with:
a slice of colby-jack cheese, and
a tossed salad of shredded lettuce, finely-diced tomatoes, and buttermilk ranch dressing.

They were absolutely fantastic, especially with the buttermilk ranch. For my first burger, I did the normal slice of tomato and a couple leaves of lettuce, but that got messy quick. When I got to the second one, I just took a scoop of the salad we had made and threw it on top. It was perfect.

In the end, neither Sarah nor the kids liked the taste, which was sad, but that just meant more for me.

Thirty-first birthday haul.

2009-10-27T10:49:00.002-05:00

Another year, another "This is what I got for my birthday, thanks everyone!" post.

This is what I got for my birthday:

From my wife, Lane & Sarah, Matt & Becca, Tara, and my parents:
     A new grill!
From my kids:
     TMBG's "Here Comes Science" CD/DVD
From Matt Armstead:
     the Catan Dice Game
From Marc Baker:
     2 Wii wheels and Weird Al's "Poodle Hat" CD
With birthday money from Grandpa & Grandma Hawks: Books!
     Bitter Gold Hearts by Glen Cook
     A Cruel Wind by Glen Cook
     The Tower of Fear by Glen Cook
     Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen by Alan Dean Foster
     Free Live Free by Gene Wolfe
     Litany of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe
     There Are Doors by Gene Wolfe

Thanks, everyone!

Two items of note.

2009-10-06T10:17:00.003-05:00

The first is regarding my new website. Yes, that's right. Stop checking this blog and head to saltmanz.com instead. Why? Because all of my posts to this blog show up on that site. As well as my Facebook posts, LiveJournal entries, Del.icio.us bookmarks, LibraryThing activity, et cetera. Amazing, yes? There's still some minor layout issues for me to finish up, but the site's been fully functional for some time now.

Secondly, my birthday is coming up, and for anyone wondering about my wishlists, they are always available at this link.

Another new chorus.

2009-07-23T15:33:00.002-05:00

Wednesday morning I woke up with a song stuck in my head. One that didn't exist before that moment. As I slooowly moved toward consciousness, I sang it in my mind over and over, but the words dropped away line by line. By the time I was actually awake, all that was left was the first line, and, miraculously, the entire melody. That morning's shower time was spent filling in the words again. It was a love song, as the first line makes apparent, but not until I had re-written it did I realize that it was about a new baby:

You are so much more beautiful
     Than I've ever dreamed
And I can't imagine
     Why you've been given to me
And I can't stop thinking
     Of all the things that we'll see
With you here right now
     It's so hard to believe
That you're here right now
     Is so hard to believe

Behold: video!

2009-07-17T14:17:00.003-05:00

Well, it's been 3 weeks since my sister's wedding, and 6 days since I dumped the videotape of said event onto the computer. Yesterday I extracted the song that I wrote (and, with Sarah, performed) to its own video clip, and having already posted it to Facebook, now share it here for all to see:

It was pretty windy that day, so the audio quality isn't sterling, and here are the lyrics for those who can't make it out:

I always wanted to share
My life with someone who cared
It was my dream, my hope, and my prayer
And when you came to me
I knew that we could be

Two notes in need of a song
Two souls that knew all along
Two halves of a whole, united and strong
Two words that sound the same
Two parts to a refrain

CHORUS:
Harmony and melody
Two is better by far
Let the sound of our souls joined sing
Far beyond the stars

You be the hills, I'm the trees
You be the storm, I'm the seas
You be the sun, and I will be the sky
Together we can be
More than just you or me

CHORUS

Standing before you now
I make my solemn vow
Strike now the bells, it's done
Two hearts now beat as one

CHORUS

Harmony and melody
Two voices to one
Now lift the song that our souls joined sing
Up to the Son

I actually only finished writing it the Tuesday before the wedding (which was on Saturday.) That gave Sarah only 4 days to learn it; and learn it she did, with a cold, no less! I remain impressed.

A series of pipes.

2009-03-10T13:40:00.002-05:00

I've been trying to put something like this together for a while now, and was just recently pointed to Yahoo! Pipes. Among its various abilities is the power to consolidate multiple RSS feeds into a single stream. So now you can see what I'm up to all over the web with a single click:

http://pipes.yahoo.com/saltmanz/saltmanz?_render=rss

In order to read it, you must have some sort of feed reader (Internet Explorer 7 works just fine.)

Christmas letter, 2008.

2009-01-27T12:40:00.008-06:00

This is about a month overdue, and I apologize. Would you believe it's been sitting on my blog as a draft this whole time? Anyway, here it is:

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas and God's blessings upon you! We have had a fairly routine year with a few highlights sprinkled throughout.

Chris was promoted in February. He is now a Traffic Analyst, meaning he's responsible for analyzing the company's transportation costs, as well as maintaining their business system's transportation setup. It's an enjoyable challenge, and the company's many divisions and modes of transport mean there's always something new to learn and work on.

Sarah has continued her job as an auditor for her company—no, she is not a financial auditor; math is not her strong suit. She looks through all the charting and other paperwork for the group homes that her company runs. It gets pretty mundane after a while, so she is also a part of several committees and helps to run a couple of important meetings each month. In fact, this year, she was doing so many different things that she won The Decathlon Award at the company's annual awards gala.

We took two mini-vacations this year: The first was to Chicago in May. Sarah's cousin got married, so we decided to make a long weekend of it. It was fun to take the kids to the Field museum and the Shedd aquarium. Alex still loves looking at the picture we have of our family with Sue the dinosaur. Elizabeth also had a little extra fun. She got to go to the top of the Sears tower with her uncle Jeremy. She said it was a fun adventure even though she was cold and tired by the time she got home.

In September we went to the Henry Doorly zoo in Omaha. We went down with some friends who grew up in Iowa. It was a very fun day. We enjoyed seeing several kinds of animals that we don't have at our zoo in Minnesota. Alex was especially excited to see the giraffes, zebras, and rhinos; Elizabeth doesn't remember what she liked the best. They both got to pet a penguin while we were waiting in line to get our lunch; a zookeeper walked by with one and was letting all the kids touch it. They also both loved the budgie enclosure. Basically it was a giant walk-in bird cage that had the colorful little birds just flying around wherever they wanted. Alex and Elizabeth both liked feeding them and trying to touch them. Chris and our friend actually held one on their fingers.

Our biggest news came toward the end of the year. In November we were happy to find out that our family will be growing again next July. Yep, baby number three is on the way. We are a little nervous to be outnumbered, but thrilled about this addition to our lives.

We are looking forward to all of the new and exciting things to come in the New Year and hope that you are too. Merry Christmas!

Love,
Chris, Sarah,
Elizabeth, and Alex

All-you-can-eat KFC? Yes, please!

2008-12-29T12:03:00.003-06:00

(As I type this, it occurs to me I should probably make a "food" icon.)

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. (Which reminds me: I'll be posting our Christmas letter soon.) In the meantime, I meant to post this last week, but time got away from me.

Last Sunday, for lunch after church, we went to the KFC in Lakeville. Now, the KFC in Apple Valley is closer to our house (and is combined with an A&W as a bonus) but we'd driven by the Lakeville KFC a number of times the past couple years, and had seen something we'd wanted to try out: a buffet!

We finally got around to trying it. It's pretty much what you'd think, only maybe moreso. It's available almost all day, and runs only $8 for an adult. (Elizabeth, 4 years old, was $4, and Alex, 3, was only $1.) That price includes beverages and all you can eat from the buffet, which, at least when we were there (though I don't know if the menu changes) included:

A salad bar (which, though limited in variety, was very fresh), Jell-O, a pistachio salad, soup (broccoli-cheese), biscuits, potatoes, gravy, original recipe chicken, Extra Tasty Crispy chicken, some mexican chicken dish, cinnamon rolls (quite similar to their biscuits, actually, and delicious), coleslaw, macaroni-and-cheese, and probably a few other things I'm forgetting.

All in all, it was fabulous, and well worth the price. I'm guessing, too, that the buffet makes up most of that place's sales, seeing as how everybody there was doing the all-you-can-eat thing.

Mom and Dad, we'll have to take you there next time you're up.

Thirty.

2008-10-20T10:07:00.004-05:00

It has finally happened. I am now OLD.

I actually had my birthday party 2 weeks ago, as a joint affair with Matt Armstead and Tara. Pretty much we just hung out at our place and played games all day. The original idea was to get a game of kickball going, but the weather didn't end up being great for that.

This Saturday (my actual birthday) was interesting. Sarah's grandma got tickets to VeggieTales live at our church, so we took the kids and cousin Alex to see that (after spending an hour at Burger King first.) I enjoy the VeggieTales cartoon, but the live show was, in all honesty, pretty lame. The kids had fun, though. After that we headed down to Red Wing and played at a brand-new playground there. Then Sarah's parents took me to my birthday dinner at Fiest Mexicana, the best mexican restaurant there is. Just before we left, to my embarrassment, they had the waitstaff sing "Happy Birthday" to me, which I got wear a monstrous (and uncomfortable) sombrero through. The good part? Free flan. Tasty.

After that, we went back to Sarah's parents' house, and had cake and I opened my present from my parents: a Nintendo Wii. What? Wow. I was not expecting that at all. There goes all semblance of productivity at my house!

The rest of the birthday haul:

Games:
Go, from Matt & Becca
Alhambra: The Thief's Turn (expansion), from Lane & Sarah
Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries, from Matt Armstead
Catan: Traders & Barbarians (expansion), from Sarah & the kids

Books:
From Tara (via giftcard):
She Is the Darkness by Glen Cook
Water Sleeps by Glen Cook
Soldiers Live by Glen Cook
From Grandpa & Grandma Hawks (via cash):
Empire by Orson Scott Card
Star Wars: Allegiance by Timothy Zahn
Sandworms of Dune by Brian Herbert
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
The Knight by Gene Wolfe

Other:
Transformers t-shirt, from Anita
Jelly Belly jelly beans, from Sam
Dead End, Meister, and Wheeljack Transformers Alternators toys, from Matt & Becca

10 Years!?

2008-09-25T21:28:00.004-05:00

Scamper's Quest celebrates its 10th anniversary today. Wow. I have a hard time just thinking about it.

Swing by and drop a note in the guestbook, would you?

Out of the blue...

2008-08-11T15:41:00.001-05:00

I remembered it!

The importance of writing stuff down.

2008-08-05T16:18:00.004-05:00

So I realized the other day that my webcomic Scamper's Quest only has 2-3 more strips before the buffer I've been building up over the past couple years runs out. I'm not entirely worried; I think I can come up with a minimum of one strip a week, hopefully building my buffer up in the process.

No, my problem is that I went to the version of the website that resides on my hard drive, to view the strips that I've made that haven't gone online yet -- in particular, the upcoming story arc that I'm in the middle of writing. Wait, what's this? There's a strip title in the database with no strip associated with it? That's not unusual; often I put the title in as a placeholder until I get the strip actually made. But not this one; I have no idea what this strip is supposed to be about. None! I recognize the title, though; I thought it was clever when I came up with it, but I've completely forgotten what the strip was about. And I usually jot my strip ideas down, really I do, but in this case I figured I'd remember. Ha!

So remember, kids: write stuff down. Otherwise you'll forget and feel stupid.

The Juce is Luce.

2008-08-04T17:19:00.004-05:00

We grilled hamburgers last night, and I decided to try making a Jucy Lucy. We've actually done this once before, but I added a twist this time. First I chopped up some onion (with our new Pampered Chef chopper!) and kneaded it into the ground beef, along with a handful of bacon bits (real bacon, not Bacos.) I made two large, flat patties, folded a piece of american cheese in between them, and then pinched the sides together to form one big, cheese-filled patty. A liberal coating of salt and pepper and Worchestershire sauce, followed by a sprinkling of McCormack's Grillmates hamburger seasoning, and then they were on the grill. A piece of melted american cheese on top, served on a grill-toasted bun. Wow.

The first bite was a bit of a mess, with the back side of the burger bursting open, pouring hot, beefy cheese sauce onto my plate. But it was soooooo tasty. I'm totally doing it again, but maybe next time I'll had some more toppings (lettuce, tomato, and the like.)

Just two thoughts.

2008-06-17T19:29:00.003-05:00

Ah, summer. When the ladies start jogging down the street in shorts and tanktops. I wonder if there's a correlating spike in traffic accidents?

Also, should I feel guilty when reading a library book on the toilet?

Moving right along...

2008-05-01T22:12:00.003-05:00

I should let you know: I'm in the process of switching webhosts. I've moved my blogs over, but there may still be some broken/inaccurate links cropping up from time to time. My new domain is www.saltmanz.com, so use that when you can. Most of my stuff is also still at chawks.brinkster.net, but won't necessarily be there for very long. (And for sure it will be gone by next spring.) Update your bookmarks as necessary.

Having a piano is grand. Having a grand piano is...

2008-04-16T16:04:00.004-05:00

Oh, hi! Are you still there?

I should share: about 3 weeks ago, Sarah and I went maybe a little crazy and bought a baby grand piano. Schmitt was having an unadvertised old-models-go-away sale, and we had wanted a Cristofori for a little while, so we decided to check them out. We ended up not getting a 5'8" Cristofori like we had planned, but wound up purchasing a 6'2" George Steck piano, that we randomly liked even better (though the price was the same.) We bought it Friday, rearranged our living room furniture (with my mohter's assistance) on Sunday, and had it delivered Monday.

We love it. It's a little big for our little living room, but we only lost one chair and table; mostly it's just a bit taller than you'd expect. But it sounds great, and it's pretty:

One down, one to go.

2008-03-12T12:30:00.003-05:00

Elizabeth is finally, 100% potty-trained! She's worn underwear to bed (instead of a pull-up) all week, and there've been no accidents. So, good for her!

Mongolian chicken = YUM x 100.

2008-03-04T11:14:00.003-06:00

Just a little public service announcement:

Leeann Chin has a couple of new items on their menu. One is the "Mongolian Chicken" and I highly recommend it. It's very sweet, has a bit of a kick to it, and is very very tasty. Especially on fried rice. Ask for a sample next time you go in.

(This concludes today's public service announcement.)

Finally some news!

2008-02-26T14:12:00.003-06:00

I've got a lot of news to report, actually, but first:

NEW JOB!

Yes, I've got a new position now. Same company, (mostly) same department -- I've moved from LDI Transport (our inhouse trucking company) back to the Traffic dept., still under the "transportation services" umbrella. At the time of my last post, I had been approached by my boss and basically told that they were creating this position called "Traffic Analyst" and it was mine if I wanted it. Nothing could be made official at the time (hence the mystery and intrigue of my post) because they had to offer my old position to the guy who applied for what is now my new position.

I'll be working with a lot of data, crunching numbers and doing cost comparisons and goofing around Excel -- my favorite part of my old job. I'll also be keeping the system up to date with current rates and whatnot. No more dealing with trailer maintenance or driver safety or any of that stuff that never really interested me much. The nice 12% (or thereabouts) raise, and move to salaried pay are, naturally, also quite nice.

I officially started last week, but as my new supervisor (who I replaced at my last position) has been away on his honeymoon for a week and a half, I've mostly been doing the same old stuff, and training the new guy. I've also been slowly moving over a couple cubes, and hopefully I'll be done and moved in the next day or two.

Other news:

A toilet update! Our porcelain nemesis got plugged up again, shortly after my earlier toilet post, so we sucked it up and bought a new one. A nice, high-performance toilet -- not the one that claims to flush 5 LBS of golf balls, but the next-best one. (This one came in an all-in-one kit, whereas the other one would have required buying everything seperately.) It works great, except for one minor issue. It's a "chair height" toilet that's 2-2" taller than our old one. We knew that when we bought it, we just didn't realize how much of a difference that makes! How they can call 16" "Comfort Height" when even I don't particularly like it is beyond me.

And still...

We did our taxes in early February, so we were able to get our return back a week ago. We spent half of it on a new washer and dryer. The old dryer had to be run twice to dry anything, and it also made a habit of eating snaps, zippers, and, generally, clothes. We got a nice new set from Sears that was delivered last Wednesday, but when they went to install the dryer, it was discovered that we needed to replace the dryer outlet. Sarah's dad helped us with that Sunday night, so now I guess we're all ready to do some laundry!

A new job?

2008-02-02T15:15:00.001-06:00

Stay tuned!

(I'm such a tease!)

My bowl runneth over.

2008-01-30T17:33:00.001-06:00

Yesterday ended with what was, quite literally, a crap-filled night.

Our toilet's been clogging up pretty regularly for a while, now -- to the point where we were looking at new toilets at Home Depot over the weekend. Until yesterday, it had mostly been an annoyance: break out the plunger, and clean it out; though the flushes would always continue to sound a bit 'shallow', making it seem fairly reasonable that there was something wrong with the toilet.

Last night looked it would be an early night; everyone headed upstairs to Mommy and Daddy's bed at 10:30... and then the toilet was plugged. No problem. Plunger-time. Hm, the water doesn't seem to be going down any. In fact, the toilet's still running and the water level's slowly rising. Plunge, plunge. Okay, now it's definitely blocked; the plunger's not pushing anything through. Water's still rising. HELP! (This last part I yelled to Sarah as a leapt off the floor onto Elizabeth's potty stool, one hand holding the plunger, the other in the tank grasping futilely at the floating bell to stop the flow of water -- shortly thereafter I would remember to turn the water off at the wall.)

Short story: toilet completely clogged, (crap) water all over the bathroom floor. Took the plunger to it once again, which only managed to (somehow!) force the nasty water back up into the tank.

We ended up taking the toilet completely apart, draining it, and flushing it out in the bathtub with hot water and (at one point) 1/3 of a bottle of Liquid Plumbr. There was a lot of crap stuck in that thing, let me tell you.

Once we got it cleaned out and reassembled, it came time for the test flush. The water went down (yay!) and then...kept...going... The tank kept slowly filling and draining into the bowl as the bowl slowly emptied down the drain. By chance, I caught a glimpse of some material stuck in the little hole in the bottom of the bowl -- not the big hole that drains into the floor, but the one where the water from the tank comes rushing out. I couldn't get it out, but Sarah was able (after a few attempts) to reach in and pull out the obstruction. It turned out to be one of Elizabeth's "big girl wipes": supposedly-toilet-safe wet wipes for potty-training kids. No idea how long it had been there (the going theory is that it somehow got 'plunged' into there) but on the next flush, the water went down and then stopped as it should, and had the 'full' flush sound that had been missing for so long.

Actually, it's still a little funny; now it flushes twice: the tank drains and the bowl empties, and then while the tank refills, the bowl fills slightly and drains again. Odd, but it seems to work.

The whole adventure took 2.5 hours, and we didn't get to bed until after 1:00 AM. On the plus side, I know a lot about toilets now...

I'm not moving...

2008-01-21T14:18:00.001-06:00

...but I have started up a new blog over at LiveJournal. It's called SMZcomics and it's just what it sounds like. It will showcase comic books and strips I've made over the years, as well as concepts and designs that were never fully realized. Also: new stuff! I've started off running through some of my old, old comics in chronological order, so go check it out!

(I should have a link to SMZcomics on the sidebar before this post falls off the front page.)

Books read: 2008.

2008-01-08T16:34:00.028-06:00

This post is mainly for archiving purposes. Of course, feel free to comment on it if you wish. The most recent book read is listed first, with the current book in bold. Projected future reads are listed in italics.

The Citadel of the Autarch by Gene Wolfe
The Sword of the Lictor by Gene Wolfe
The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe
The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe
Caine Black Knife by Matthew Stover
Soldiers Live by Glen Cook
Water Sleeps by Glen Cook
Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson
She Is the Darkness by Glen Cook
Bleak Seasons by Glen Cook
Dreams of Steel by Glen Cook
Shadow Games by Glen Cook
The Silver Spike by Glen Cook
The White Rose by Glen Cook
Shadows Linger by Glen Cook
The Black Company by Glen Cook
Star Wars: Invincible by Troy Denning
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
Star Wars: Revelation by Karen Traviss
Star Wars: Fury by Aaron Allston
At the Mountains of Madness and Other Novels of Terror by H. P. Lovecraft
The Dunwich Horror and Others by H. P. Lovecraft
Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson
Magic Street by Orson Scott Card
The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson
Night of Knives by Ian Esslemont
Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson
House of Chains by Steven Erikson
Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson
Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
Enchanter's End Game by David Eddings
Castle of Wizardry by David Eddings
Magician's Gambit by David Eddings
Queen of Sorcery by David Eddings
Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings
The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson

Books read: 2007

Where does this plug in?

2007-11-29T17:33:00.002-06:00

I apologize for letting this thing (the blog, that is) slide for over a month, now.

In a brief recap of November: Alex turned 2 on the 10th. Seeing as how his favorite thing to do (after playing with blocks, playing with trucks, destroying things, and infuriating Elizabeth) is eat, we decided to take him out to Old Country Buffet. The line to get in was surprisingly long for Saturday night, but at least it moved fairly quickly. Alex loved it, and easily ate his dollar's worth. :) We had his birthday party a week later (when people were actually around) and it was a lot of fun, with a lot of friends and family and a last-minute (aren't they all? ours, anyway) racetrack-inspired birthday cake.

For Thanksgiving, we went down to Red Wing to Sarah's parents'. We ate a lot. We were responsible for pies, so I made my cherry-cheesecake pie, and Sarah found a recipe online for a pumpkin cream pie that turned out very well. (A layer of cream cheese, a layer of pumpkin pie, and a whipped topping.)

Now that it's Christmastime (which Elizabeth is very excited about) Sarah spent the past couple nights decorating up the house. We did, however, run into one snag last night. Sarah bought a bunch of new Christmas lights to string around the roof of our house, when we realized: our 40-year-old house doesn't have any exterior outlets! I believe we actually came to this realization earlier this summer, but who needs an exterior outlet in the summertime? Anyway, we settled for running an extension cord from inside the garage to some of those lighted nets that throw over the bushes. It doesn't look too bad, and I didn't have to climb a ladder!