Christmas '13

Rick and I started Christmas by going home to see his family. His mom's extended family gathers every year at Grandpa Lee and Grandma Laura's on Christmas Eve for family dinner and gifts. So that was Christmas #1. 

Christmas #2 was with his parents on Christmas morning where Rick "officially" gave me Rollo as a Christmas present. Here he is climbing around on the presents under the tree. 

He's the most adorable Christmas present ever!

Christmas #3 was with Rick's dad's family at his uncles house. 

Shortly after getting home on Christmas evening I noticed what I thought was a really weird looking breakout on Rick's forehead. I said something along the lines of "Geesh Ricky, what's up with your head?" It looked like he had two rows of 3 or 4 zits breaking out all together. Then Rick, Janice and I  had a conversation about how Rick had been suffering from what we all assumed were headaches due to sinus pressure for the past 5 days. Ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine  didn't seem to be helping. The general consensus was that if something hasn't gotten better on it's own in that amount of time it's time to see the doctor. Janice called the doctor's office as soon as it opened the next morning and made him an appointment. Rick drove himself to the doctor where he described his headaches to her and she told him sinus pressure. Then he pointed out the weird acne on his head and she immediately diagnosed him with Shingles. He went on anti-viral medication immediately. We read that the anti-viral is most effective if started within 72 hours of the rash breaking out, so we're really glad he went to the doctor so quickly. Rick's red bumps quickly turned into big red bumps and then into big swollen blisters that spread down towards his left eye and back up on top of his head. 

Rick didn't get to go with me for Christmas #4 with my family because Dad hadn't been feeling well and also has never had chicken pox. Shingles is not nearly as contagious if you've already had chicken pox (you'd have to touch one of the blisters), however, if someone's never had chicken pox, it's fairly easy for someone with shingles to give them the chicken pox. So Rick stayed with his folks while I spent the afternoon with my family. 

I made it back to Rick's about 40 minutes late for the start of Christmas #5 with his Grandma Lucy and aunts and uncles. Rollo was a big hit with everyone. He tried to make himself at home inside Uncle Nik's shirt and then later climbed inside my sweatshirt pocket. He'll sit with anyone who's warm. 

Little monster. 

Dean's List!

Grades are finally posted and Rick and I both made the dean's list this semester!  

Unfortunately, the stress of finals weakened Rick's immune system enough that the chickenpox he had at age 4 "woke up" and now he has shingles.

But we made dean's list!

STAM elves

Life as a chocolate shop employee would not be complete, apparently, if we weren't asked at least once a holiday season to dress as elves.

Today was the Ames Cultural District's "Legend of Snow Magic" event - Santa was supposedly making the rounds (and apparently headquartered a few doors down at the Cupcake Emporium) but I didn't see him.
Perhaps all the Stam elves are on the naughty list?
In any case, it was requested that we wear elf costumes supplied by the ACD council.
And all the Stam employees are good sports -or we wouldn't be working in the service industry- so we had fun with it and I brought in my camera to make sure I got a few good pictures of elves at work.

Elf Erin and Elf Bronson get ready to open the shop for a super busy Saturday!

The shoes did not last long. We got tired of stepping on the bells and they're too slippery and catch too many splinters from our 100+ year old floor. And a full shift of standing on hardwood with zero arch support is just asking for back pain. Even for elves.

left to right: Elf Josh, Elf Quentin and Elf Bronson

Elf Rachel gives us her "happy face"

Elf Josh prepares drinks for a customer

The Stam Staff! (minus managers)
(left to right) back row: Josh, Rachel, Bronson / front row: Quentin, Erin, and Haley

Terry (the owner) took this group picture. But we spent a lot of time today having our pictures snapped by random strangers while we were working.
As Santa's best looking elves, our faces are flying around smart phones throughout the city.

Terry made this picture sparkly to put on the Stam facebook page. You can view the sparkly version here.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAWCSuPS8KcznxAE_d3lAL0slh6VbCLTel03txKlhQWBp-lnRYn4bAp4fbhL5sXi-UGgOc8sRReQWpXxrmbfCdIUK2xWSb7aJa1I44z2kQNT65KHa0g4NkaTtFLik3voR5CL6dQlDopxTL/w360-h360-p/photo.jpg

Dead Week and Finals

"Dead week" is upon us at Iowa State, which means "no projects" unless they've been on the syllabus all semester -- which really translates to "everything is due this week."

So Rick and I are busy busy busy.

Ricky has Finals next week on Monday, Tuesday and two on Thursday (4 classes) and all of them are cumulative.
Poor Ricky, I'll be seeing very little of him for the next two weeks.

My only cumulative final is in Math and is on Monday night, and my other "finals", which are more just exams, are on Tuesday and Friday (4 classes).

It's also the Christmas season at Stam, so the shop has been crazy busy and we're all getting extra hours, which is great for paychecks, but less great for my limited down time.

We're both ready for the semester to wrap up and to have a break!

Rollo being cute

Rollo is just over 12 weeks old now!

He weighs 12.85 ounces ( 364 grams)

He's a monster

Snowman Army

For Christmas this year I've been making sock snowmen for family and friends.

I originally just made a pair of them for Janice and Grandma Laura (because they love snowmen), but everyone who's seen them has wanted one, so the snowman army has continued to grow.

I found the idea on pinterest.

Each snowman is the 'tube' part of a crew sock, and the coats and hats are another sock ( I did a how-to in an earlier post).

Snowmen for Janice

Snowmen for Grandma Laura

Snowmen for Grandma Lucy and Renee
Renee's snowman seems to be everyone's favorite, the glasses are just so cute!

My kitchen table is starting to look reminiscent of a Calvin & Hobbes comic (except my snowman aren't fleeing a snow shark or turning into a zombie hoard.)

I actually made 4 more after this picture was taken, but I didn't get a picture of all of them.

Christmas decorating

Rick and I went home for Thanksgiving with my parents on Sunday.
It was wonderful, we got to see my folks, cats, my sister and her boyfriend.

It's a tradition that we put up the tree on Thanksgiving so even though we had Thanksgiving a few days early, we stuck with it.
Sarah, as she does every year, made a party dress out of the tinsel.
I don't know why she does it. She's weird.
But it's also become a sort of tradition at our house that Sarah wear the tinsel every year, and I think I'd be a little disappointed if she didn't.

Here Sarah gives us "duck face" 

Here Sarah cracks herself up because "duck face" is dumb - also I was saying things like "Yeah! Give me that duck face! Work it like a duck!"

Sabe` is under the impression (and has been for something like 14 years now) that she is a present. And she will spend the vast majority of her indoor time parked under the tree from now until it comes down after new years

She looks really sweet under there among the gifts, until you try to move her. Then she bites.

Rick and I then went to see his parents Sunday night, and monday I took him to an eye appointment and then I headed back to Ames for work.

I also decorated our apartment!

Our door

Rick's instructions were "Don't get out of control"

Hahahahahaha! Silly Rick. 
It's Christmas decorating, control is not an operative word here.

A reindeer bowl full of pinecones and berries and jingle bells

The coffee table

Be Merry

another wall

our tree!

Rollo inspects my decorations

I can't tell if he approves or not

Raising Spiny Norman

There's a thread on Hedgehog Central comparing the ages and weight of members' hedgehogs.  They also have people take pictures of their hedgies next to a dollar bill for a "constant reference" to use for comparison.

Rollo let me get ONE picture of next to the Dollar bill and he's a little scrunched up in it, so you don't get his full length

 A US dollar is about 6.14"
Most people's hedgies seem to be smaller than the bill and they all say things like
"5 months - 227g"
"4.5 months - 252g"
"5.5 months - 325g"
"7 months - 255g"

Rick "palms" Rollo - it's crazy to compare this to his Halloween Photo shoot!

 Rollo is 11 weeks old
He's 7 1/2 inches long
He weighs 349 grams

After that first picture he did this.

And now I've come to realize-
Rick and I are raising Spiny Norman.

He walked all over the couch wearing this dollar bill

It's like a cape! Rick and I couldn't stop laughing

Then he ditched the dollar to go stick his head in this toilet paper tube

Here he is looking like a majestic meatloaf 

Rollo tests the edge before thinking better of it and backing off

Here he looks at me like "Why aren't you putting a hand out to catch me?"

Christmas Decorations!

I've had a few requests for Christmas decorations from my sister and our friend Matt, both of whom have just purchased and/or moved into new houses and don't have much in the way of holiday decor.

So off to Pinterest! 

I found a wreath really similar to this and decided, "I can make that" 

Here's the wreath I made for our friend Matt

I also found these on Pinterest! The Snowmen I did a "how to" on an earlier post and the apothecary jars (and their contents) were something I thought Sarah would like. 

She really likes the apothecary jars I have in my bathroom (which are 1/4 the size of these - I keep TUMS and Q-tips and cotton balls in them) but with these I thought she could change out the fillings with the seasons and make use of them year round. 

Apothecary Jars and Snowmen for Sarah

 Sarah likes having a "color scheme" so because of the candy canes, I picked silver, white and red to give her consistent colors to work around.

I also got her this stainless steel serving tray. She may or may not keep it under the apothecary jars and it's a little too shiny for my personal taste, but you can never go wrong with a nice sturdy serving tray and Sarah really likes shiny so I think she'll make good use of  it. 

Red and Silver ornaments, candy canes and red, silver and white gift bows!

Interior Decorator

Every evening when I wash his wheel and bedding, I put Rollo's crinkle ball and toilet paper tube in the middle of the cage. 

Erin's placement of Rollo's toys

Every morning when I wake up I find the toilet paper tube shoved under the wheel and the crinkle ball in the corner or in the litter box.

Rollo's placement of Rollo's toys

I haven't decided if we're playing a game, or if I'm just frustrating his hedgehog sense of aesthetics by refusing to recognize that THAT'S where he WANTS them.

The "Interior Decorator" crawling around on Rick's shoulders

Sock Snowman - How to...

I found this idea for Sock Snowmen on pinterest and decided to make a "how to" because they're Just SO CUTE!

A snowman costs under $2 to make via Socks from Target and a huge mixed bag of buttons from Hobby Lobby.

Supplies needed: A white sock, a pretty christmas sock, some little beads for eyes, a toothpick, an orange marker, a hot glue gun, two rubber bands, some string, a pair of scissors, and some rice or beans to use as filling - I use rice.

 I knew I'd be making several snowmen (I was making them with Sam & Audrey) so I bought a six pack of crew socks from target for 6.99 = 60 cents per snowman and the fancy socks are from the dollar section so about 50 cents per snowman. The big bag of buttons was $5.99 - but there's a TON of buttons so the cost per snowman is pretty much nothing, plus now I have all these buttons for other projects! And rice is pretty cheap, so it's a great filler.

You could make them even cheaper using the tubes of crew socks with holes in the toes or lost partners.

Here's how you cut your sock. you're only going to use the "tube" part of the crew sock and you'll use both the toe and the "tube" of the christmas sock.

Flip the tube inside out and tie one end SUPER TIGHT with a rubber band

 You could do a homemade dry potpourri as some of the filling, or a smushed up cinnamon stick to add a fun scent.

Flip it right-side-out again so the rubber band is on the inside (gives you a flat bottom) and fill it with rice.  TIP: squish the rice down as you fill to make a nice round snowman - I put about 2 cups of rice in a small women's crew sock. 

Tie  off the top of your stuffed tube 

Roll your tube to stretch it out - this step also "checks for leaks"

Grab the "tube" of your fancy sock to dress your snowman

Tie the top of the sweater to the snowman to create the head

I also tie the tip of the hat because I think it's cute, you could skip this if you wanted a floppier hat

Color the tip of a toothpick orange and cut it in half to make the nose

It takes a little wiggling, but you just stick the toothpick into the sock. The weave and the rice keep it in place so you don't need to glue it or anything.

Glue on your eyes and you've got a sock snowman! I also add some fancy buttons to decorate the hat and sweater and give each snowman a little personality