We've been had!

I am not a huge fan of white elephant gift exchanges, so I was more than a little apprehensive about our small group Christmas party. I had thought long and hard about what to bring as gifts, hoping that I had not gone too far with our "silly" gift. We arrived and placed our gifts with the others and soon enough the time came to proceed with the exchange. They explained the rules for those who may not remember or have played it differently in another setting, then we drew numbers for the order we would choose or steal gifts. I was number 2 which usually means I have a great chance to be stolen from. The first gift is opened. Baby Pj's too small for the smallest of babes there. I am next, and having just found out that I was having a little baby boy I figured who better to have that "silly" gift than me...so I stole it. Next gift is opened...a handmade burp rag. Cute, but now my stomach is dropping...did I not get the memo? Did I not know how to shop for a silly white elephant gift? Next gift is opened...MORE baby stuff...hmm. And this trend continued around the circle of guests. By gift number 3 Doug and I were pretty sure we had been had. And when all of the "baby" gifts were open (our gifts had been conveniently untouched), we were given one chance and one chance only to steal all of the gifts opened so far. We had just had our first baby shower for baby boy number 2 and what a surprise! Other gifts were then pulled out for the real exchange, and to my relief, our gifts fit right in :0).

Ultrasound results are in...

Blueberry

The size of the newest Lewis.

The Fruits of my Labor

Okay, to set the stage for this post we need to think back to August of last year. That was when we were considering purchasing this home, and in reading the listing it mentioned that there were fruit trees on the property. Now, we had looked at LOTS of homes prior to this one, and when the listing calls out something as a "feature" you are not sure what to think. After considering it for a while both Doug and I were convinced that they may have been talking about the blackberry bushes that are growing like weeds on our property. However, we were wrong...we really did have fruit trees on our property. Two beautiful trees bloomed and started to grow fruit. Now if only I knew what kind of fruit it was baring!

Now back to present day, these trees started to drop their fruit...fruit that didn't really look ripe. I decided to bravely taste one that was still on the tree, and to my pleasant surprise, it was delicious! It tasted like a sweet juicy plum. I turned to the Internet and found pictures that lead me to believe we have a greengage plum tree (they might both be, but the other fruit looks more golden, so it may be a yellow gage plum...but honestly I haven't tasted its fruit as the branches are too high).

So what does one do with plums other than eat them fresh off the tree (there are way too many for that option alone). I just happened to have my mom's dehydrator handy, and I thought I would give it a whirl. I watched over them as I carefully dried them, and when they looked like they were nearing dried perfection, I popped one in my mouth for a quick taste test. Okay, have you ever had a Cry Baby sour candy? You know, the kind that makes your jaw start to lock up as your mouth puckers at the tartness? Well, that was exactly what happened...my jaw started to lock up, my lips puckered, but instead of turning into a sweet pleasant taste that make the Cry Baby candies worth while, my jaw just continued to tense up and I finally had to spit it out. See, what I didn't mention above was that the peel of the fruit was tart, but it was a wonderful taste in combination with the sweet flesh...apparently when you dry up the sweet flesh, you are left with just sour peel. Luckily some people in this household are enjoying them. And luckily, I had dried some cherries with them just because I really like dried cherries.


The picture above shows dried apricots, my mystery fruit, and cherries. The apricots were the reason I had the dehydrator in the first place.

Unwelcome house guests

Ever since moving into our new home, we have been excited to share it with others. We love the extra room that we have to host guests, and are thrilled when we get the chance to entertain (although after Melissa and Rick's New Year's day feast, we have set the bar awfully high ;0)). However, there are some house guests I would rather not set foot into our home. And if you are reading this and wondering "could it be me?" rest assured...it is not you! In fact, any person reading this blog is most welcome...spiders on the other hand are NOT!

Now I am aware that living in an older construction home near wooded area there is bound to be spiders dwelling with us. However I was not aware that they would be so BIG! The first BIG spider we encountered made Doug scream (well ok, exclaim something loud enough to draw my attention and call through the house to see if he was ok). His response..."there is a monster in our bedroom!" Since then I have found one other...in the guestroom! You are not welcome...not even there. BIG spiders...you are not welcome anywhere!


Now for you guests that do use our guest bedroom, let me put your mind at ease. The sheets are freshly changed before you arrive, and the towels are thoroughly gone through to make sure that no creature has made himself too comfortable in their soft folds. Soft folds that are intended for our truly welcome house guests!