Christmas Cookies with Barlow, 2022 Christmas Ornament and Ed's Party at the Ram

It was getting really hard to schedule stuff because December was so busy.  I did manage to set aside some time to make Christmas cookies with Barlow at her house.  I also had a list of all kinds of stuff to get done while I had a few hours to get it all done.  December has gotten difficult to plan around because of so many birthdays and whatnot as well.  Those days usually get filled up for you.  Our calendar this year for December was literally off the wall!

Saturday, December 17th

That morning Ben went to shift, and I slept in until about 9:30. I ate a quick breakfast and loaded up the Escape with the recycle and my cookie baking stuff.  I double checked to make sure I had everything because I wasn't coming home after my errands.

I drove into Rainier to get rid of the recycle and called Mom to see if she wanted to meet me in Rainier to walk the trail.  Some of my caches were missing and I had to fix them before I got any more hate mail from cachers.  She said she would.  I didn't want to park at the trailhead behind the store because I had some valuables in the Escape.  Instead, we parked at the school and walked over to the trail.  I grabbed what I needed and realized I had forgotten my gloves once we were walking.  Lame. Now, my hands are going to be cold.  

The first one we had to check on was Rainier Trail Cache (GC8MCG5) because it was missing.  In fact, after some searching, it was missing.  It was a huge bummer because it is really hard to replace rock hid-a-key caches now that they are really expensive to buy and replace.  Now the cache is a film cannister and I hope it sticks around longer than the other one did.  It's annoying having to replace them all the time.  Especially, when it's a special container. 

We continued walking down the trail west towards Tenino.  We walked past a guy who was walking his dog and said hi to us. Since we were walking past The 507 Series:  Rainier, Wash. (GC3AMVX), I decided to check to see if it was still there or in the correct location.  It took me a while to find it because people moved it around.  I did eventually find it and only replaced the logbook.  I moved it to where I had hidden it originally. 

The last one, We Don't Do That Here (GC4ZT8D) was about a mile walk from where the Escape and Mom's Expedition was.  It was nice that we could get a walk in before the busy day started up.  In several of the logs people had said that the container was getting cracked in half due to the hiding spot.  No big deal, I had a new container and a logbook ready to go.  I just wished I would have remembered to bring my gloves with me.  We walked back to the school.  I thanked Mom for walking with me and told her how the rest of my day was going to go.  She went home and I drove into Tumwater.

My first stop was the cemetery.  This was the first time visiting both of them since Grandpa's passing in October and his funeral in November.  I brought them the wreath I made a couple years ago for Christmas time.  It was surreal visiting both of them at the cemetery.  I sure missed them.  I was very lucky to have them in my life growing up.  Not many people get to have their grandparents in their lives into their mid-thirties.  Grammie has missed so many important things since August 2018.  Grandpa missed a bunch of stuff but at least got to see that I was getting married.  I told them a brief summary of the stuff that was happening and how busy we've been in December.  They said they remembered being busy in December getting ready for the holidays all those years.  It would be my first Christmas without the both of them and it made me sad.  I told them I missed them and I would come back again to visit soon.

I got onto the freeway and headed to Celete's salon to donate the toys I got for the toy drive that I kept forgetting to give to her.  It was a quick go in, dump off and leave.  I drove up towards the mall and stopped at TJ Maxx for a specific item before they were all gone.  I found what I was looking for but the line to check out was insane!  People were really doing some crazy Christmas shopping.  The line actually went quicker than I thought it would.  Afterwards, I did some browsing at the Goodwill to see what kind of treasures I could find.  I found some cute tiny shirts to go along with Wes's birthday present.  

I was hungry and decided to go to Five Guys since it's been several years since I've been there.  I had forgotten how expensive it was.  I ordered the basic burger and small fries and got it 'to go' so I could sit in the Escape and eat it and drink my Pepsi Zero.  I chatted with Trish for a little bit to see what she was up to.

I wasted enough time and drove the short distance to Barlow's house.  I sat in the driveway for a little bit because I wasn't sure if they were home or not.  I texted her and she texted me back stating that they were home, and I could come in with all my stuff. I had to make several trips but Justin helped me.

We did a mini birthday present party, he got a bath and then went to bed.  Barlow found two cookie recipes and I found two prior to showing up.  The ones I picked were no bakes and mint chocolate chip cookies.  She picked peanut butter cookies and snickerdoodles.  I was over there until about 1:30 a.m.  We cleaned up, I took my stuff back out to the Escape, and I thanked her for hosting cookie night.

I got home, unloaded the stuff out of the Escape, put some of it away, took a shower and went to bed by about 3 a.m.  I was tired.

Sunday, December 18th

The next day Ben came home late from shift, and I got up around 9:45. I made breakfast, and we got ready for our day.

We had made plans with Walter and Wendy about a month ago asking them if they could make us an ornament stating, "Our First Christmas Engaged" and they agreed to do it.  I spend a few weeks making a mockup of what Ben and I would like to see.  We both agreed that it should contain mountains and trees because we got engaged in Leavenworth, where there are tons of mountains and trees.  I got a final version of it done and Ben said it looked awesome and to send it off.  This would be Ben and I's ninth Christmas together and each year we get a ornament with a year on it. 

I sent it to Wendy via email and she and Walter figured out how they were going to create it with their wood printer.  I checked in with them about a week later and asked when they would be available so we could visit with them and pick up the ornament.  She said, because it was almost Christmas, they were busy doing craft shows/fairs all over western Washington.  She said she was going to be in Eatonville in the middle of December and I told her that was perfect.  We could meet them in Eatonville and then drive into Puyallup for Ed's birthday party at the Ram.  Wendy said that would work.

We hopped into the Escape and drove out to Eatonville. It actually started snowing a little bit as we got closer to the Eatonville Eagle's building.  We parked and went inside.  There was so much craft stuff crammed into that room!  Holy cow!  We found Walter and Wendy's booth and looked at all the stuff they were selling.  They gave us our ornament and it turned out great!  Walter explained to us how he made it.  I asked him how much I owed them, and Ben and I each paid them for their materials and labor.  They even made us a keepsake box to put it in.  

We loitered around, got a picture with Santa and even looked at some of the other crafts people had made.  

We thanked Walter and Wendy several times for our ornament, gave them hugs and told them we needed to get going if we were going to be on time for the birthday party.  We told them, before we left, that we needed to hang out again soon.  They agreed.

We got back into the Escape and followed Hwy 161 all the way to Puyallup.  It snowed a little bit as we got closer to Graham.  We got to the Ram near the mall, found a place to park, grabbed Ed's present and went inside.  Of course, we were a little late and they were seated already.  I was upset at Trish because she didn't save seats next to her and Amy so we had to sit down at the other end of the table basically by ourselves with people we didn't know.  We were bored the entire time but got to watch Tom Brady lose to the Bengals so the night wasn't a total loss.  I had a chicken sandwich and Ben ordered pretzel bites and cheese and then a turkey club sandwich and fries for a meal.

Trish did come over and visit with us a little bit.  Ed opened his presents...we got him an Apples to Apples boardgame he wanted.  We thanked everyone for having us and we headed home.  We stopped at Walmart to pick up some shower curtain stuff for Doug since he cleaned the shower for the first time since he moved in October 2021, so that was progress.  We relaxed for a bit and got ready for the upcoming work week before the crazy Christmas holiday.

Next Adventure:  Figgy Does OMD Yet Again...At Home, Teleworking, Yet Again

Seattle Seahawks vs. Carolina Panthers

Randy asked us, about a month or so ago, if we wanted tickets to the Seahawks game on December 11th against the Carolina Panthers.  Of course, we do, I never say no to free tickets. He electronically transferred them to Mom, and she sent them to me so I could put them on my phone.  That meant, we would be taking the party bus up to Seattle.  I went and wrote it on the calendar so I wouldn't double book myself since December was starting to fill up fast. 

This was the first Seahawks game I've been to since November 2019.  Del had gotten rid of his season tickets when he moved with Nicole to Tumwater so we can't look forward to at least one of those each year anymore. He had offered them to Ben and I but it would quite the commitment.  We like going to one or two of them a year.  I was excited to go again, and Ben was super jealous he didn't get to go.  I explained that they weren't my tickets, they were Mom's. 

The night before I got out all of my Seahawk's stuff, my clear bag and, most importantly, made sure I could access our tickets from my phone. The day of, I got up and got ready and met Mom at O'Blarney's just before 10 a.m.  We found a place to park, made sure I had everything, and we found the bus we needed to be on.  We found our seats and made ourselves comfortable for the ride up to Seattle. This time we were better prepared for gambling and raffle tickets. Last time we were newbies and had no idea what we were doing. 

Both Mom and I brought enough money this time so we could gamble.  We pulled out of O'Blarney's parking lot and got onto I-5 north.  Meanwhile, a 10x10 grid was being passed around and we each got to fill in 3 squares, a dollar a square.  We pitched in $6. We were hoping that we were going to win at least one square.  Mom put in for the raffle.  We will see if we win a prize or not. 

We chatted about the game, the last time we sat in Randy's seats which was on Monday Night Football back in December 2018 against the Vikings.  We won that game 21-7 and made Kurt Cousins look really bad.  We merged off of I-5 and took 99 to the stadium...probably because it was easier for the bus to maneuver around.  We parked in the designated bus zone around 11:30 a.m. and sat there for a few minutes while he did the raffle drawing.

One of Mom's tickets was chosen, and she won a leather Seahawk backpack...kind of like one of those you can get at the state fair or bought at a flea market.  Either way, she won something.  We left it on the bus, grabbed our clear bag and walked towards WAMU event center and the stadium.  I asked Mom if she wanted to wander around Touchdown City for a bit and she said sure.  

We went through security, had our belongings checked and then grabbed my phone so they could scan our tickets.  They never used to do it here and anyone with or without a game ticket could come into Touchdown City, but they changed it for some reason.  Not sure if it's because of security reasons or because of Covid.  

We walked in, saw where everything was and what kinds of activities were going on.  We spent a few minutes watching some of the games that were already going on and checking our Fantasy Football stats.  I saw they had a face paint booth and decided since we have a while until the game we could stand in line for a bit.  We found the end of the line and waited.  Two people behind us asked us if we wanted their extra rally towel and I said sure and thanked them.  

We got to the front of the line, and I asked them to spray on a Seahawk logo and the chevron shapes, they called them "feathers".  Mom got a tiny 12 painted on her face. They asked if we wanted glitter, of course we wanted glitter!  I threw in a couple bucks as a tip.  Then we went over to the AmFam booth so we could get a gameday picture and a free clear bag -- Mom wanted one. 

We wandered around for a little bit longer and then I asked Mom if we were ready to go into the stadium so we could get some Ivar's.  She said yes.  We went up the stairs and into the stadium.  I continued to hope that the weather would hold up because it was iffy.  We walked up the ramp up towards our seats.  I asked Mom if we wanted to get food now or in a little bit.  She said now.  We found an Ivar's and stood in line.  We both got a 3 piece with fries, she got a water, and I got a Coke Zero in a cup.  We found our condiments, napkins and a place to stand undercover and eat our food because it was starting to sprinkle outside.  The weather said it wasn't going to rain!!

We finished our food and walked back to our seats.  It had stopped sprinkling.  We sat there waiting for the game to start.  The Seahawks were the clear favorites that afternoon after not knowing how this season would turn out after the giant blockbuster Russell Wilson trade last spring with the Denver Broncos.  We all had our doubts when Geno Smith was named the starting quarterback at the beginning of the season.  By mid-season, we were actually doing okay and could possibly make playoffs somehow. 

Our first play of the game was an interception that lead to a Carolina field goal.  That interception kinda set the tone for the rest of the game it seemed like.  We did not look comfortable at all against a struggling Panther's team.  The NFC South was the worst division in football and sadly, four of our losses were against all four of the NFC South crappy teams.  Why?  It's because we were not consistent throughout the season and played down to their level.  

The end of the first quarter we were down 10-0.  We just couldn't get anything to happen on offense.  When we did well on defense, we would let them run the ball after getting them stopped for a 3rd and long, then they would get a whole new set of downs.  Darnold has got to be one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL right now and just about the entire game he did not dare throw the ball, I think he attempted throwing it a few times and each one almost got picked off.  He settled for handoffs because we just could not stop the run.  It was so frustrating to watch!

The second quarter we finally started to figure it out on offense and managed to get two touchdowns to their touchdown and a field goal. Unfortunately, an obvious offsides penalty wasn't called so Smith thought he had a free play that resulted in a really bad interception that destroyed a great drive.  We were on the Panther's side of the field too.  When halftime approached, we were only down 20-14.  This was still winnable if we came out with a purpose and stopped the run in the second half. 

It was very back and forth in the third quarter and nothing substantial happened.  A lot of three and outs on both sides but we managed to get a Jason Meyers field goal out of it.  At the end of the third quarter, we were down 20-17.

We had several chances to take the lead in the fourth quarter, but we couldn't find that offensive rhythm that came easy earlier that season.  We held our ground most of the fourth quarter on defense but let them have another touchdown and a field goal.  We nabbed ourselves a touchdown and a field goal during garbage time to make the loss look less bad.  We lost 30-24 to one of the worst teams in the NFC and the NFC South. 

The positive side of it was that we were still in the running for the playoffs, and we were still above .500 with our record in the standings.  We had four games left and I saw us coming out of it with a 2-2 record.  We will see though.

Mom and I, with the rest of the crowd, made our way back down to the lower level and left the stadium to head back to the bus.  We sat there for a while waiting for everyone to get back.  Two people didn't get to come back with us because they were really late, and we needed to get back to O'Blarney's at a decent time.  I did not hear what ever happened to them.

About halfway through the bus ride home, we did more gambling, Mom and I did not partake in the pull-tab game because we didn't know how it was played, so we just watched and were entertained.  They figured out who won each quarter on the grid game and Mom won $25 for the fourth quarter square.  She would have won another square if the Hawks would have scored a touchdown in the second quarter.  But still, we came away with money and a prize this time!

We got back to O'Blarney's and we got into our vehicles and went home.  I told Mom to call or text me when she gets home because she had further to drive.  I headed home, got cleaned up, watched the rest of the Sunday Night Football game, ate some popcorn and worked on my blog for a while. It was nice to be able to go to a Seahawks game again...it's been way too long.  I just wish we would have gotten a win out of it though.  Oh well.

Next Adventure:  Christmas Cookies with Barlow, 2022 Christmas Ornament and Ed's Party at the Ram

Christmas Tree and Pillow Day

Saturday, December 3rd

This was the weekend Ben and I had planned on going over to Yakima to celebrate Willmarth's birthday and see Kevin play high school basketball but sadly, it didn't work out and there was a lot of snow on the passes. Probably just as well. Instead, I got up, put some clothes on, ate a light breakfast, started a load of laundry and waited until Fitzy told me she was on her way to the coffee shop, Cutter's, just down the street from our house.  She had been in town over the past few weeks with Kelsey and her mom, Jean.  Jean was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, found a hard battle over the past two years and sadly, lost that battle just after the Thanksgiving weekend. I wanted to meet up with her for a little bit just to see how she was doing.  Ben decided to do a shift at the fire station.  He wasn't that excited about missing pick out the Christmas tree, but I told him it was better than missing out on the rest of the busy month. 

I drove over after receiving the text message, she treated me, I ordered a strawberry smoothy, she had a butterscotch scone with an oat milk something or other.  I let her talk while I listened.  I asked questions as she explained what happened over the last month or two.  She said it has been the hardest thing she's had to deal with and was so exhausted she can't even see straight.  She was surprised on how much paperwork she and Kelsey had to fill out over the past week or so. I told her if she needed anything just to let me know.  I had recently lost my Grandpa Dennis and told her a little bit about how that was going.  We also caught up on some other stuff as well.  

Before we parted ways for a bit, I asked her if there was going to be a celebration for Jean and she said sometime in either January or February.  I told her I would be there.  I gave her a hug, we don't hug often, but I thought that this occasion was appropriate.  She thanked me for the meet up and I thanked her back.  I got into the Escape and went home. 

I got the recycle ready and headed into Rainier to get the Christmas tree at Gerrit's Greens.  This year they were open.  They've been closed for almost three years to let their trees grow. I dropped off the recycle, picked up Mom and then Grandma Karen. We drove the short distance to Lynn and Greg's.  We haven't seen them in about three years, so we were excited to visit with them.  We parked the Escape and noticed there were a ton of people coming and going.  It was very busy at Gerrit's Greens that afternoon.

We said hi to Lynn and Greg and they told us where the Doug Firs were since those were the trees, we typically brought home. I grabbed a saw, and we headed out to the northeast part of the tree farm.  We looked at a few that fit our criteria but continued looking just in case we saw another one that was better.  After about 15-20 minutes of looking, we found Grandma's and the one I liked.  We cut down Grandma's tree first and then mine.  We took some pictures because the setting was ideal due to the snow that was still on the ground.  

We drug the trees over to the Escape and then spent some time visiting with Lynn and Greg near the fire.  We paid, had some tiny candy canes and some hot chocolate.  Lynn handed me a plastic bag with a toy Taz inside.  She said she's been saving that for me for several years and came across it recently.  I told her thanks.

I went over to the Escape, got out the step stool and the twine.  I wish I would have taken my kayak racks off the top, but I didn't.  It made it hard to put the trees on top of the Escape, but I prevailed.  We thanked Greg and Lynn and told them we would see them later.  We took Grandma and her tree back over to her house, unloaded it and helped her put the tree in the stand.  I arranged my tree on top of the Escape better and then took Mom home.  I loitered around for a bit and then met up with Dad at Grammie and Grandpa's house so I could look through some of the many packages of brand-new Christmas lights they had.  I found a couple packs of them and took them home.

I headed back home; Doug helped me take the tree off the Escape and we set it in the garage to dry a little bit.  I told Ben he could help me decorate it the next day.  Earlier that day, Erika had asked me if I could stop by her house to check up on some Amazon packages she had ordered.  She and Zac were in Vancouver for the weekend, and she didn't want them sitting on her porch all weekend out so they could be stolen.  When I got there, they were still sitting on the front step.  I unlocked the door and put the packages inside.  I brought her some gift wrap from Grammie and Grandpa's house and a Baby Yoda advent calendar I had gotten for her as an early birthday gift. I left them by her tiny Christmas tree.  

Afterwards, I went to Walmart, Dollar Tree, Winco, Fred Meyers, Safeway and back home again.  I chatted on the phone with Ben, Mom, Bev, Erika and Trish.  I showered, blogged for a while, wrapped some presents, decorated the house a little bit, did some laundry, made the bed and went to bed super late. 

Sunday, December 4th

The next day I got up super late and I didn't have time to eat anything except for some yogurt.  I did have time to move the laundry to the dryer and some stuff in the garage.  I spent some time making sure I had everything for pillow making day at Nicole's house.  Ben was up a lot over the course of the night so when he came home that morning, he fell asleep for a while.  I told him where I was going and about when I would be back.  He told me to have fun.

Mom and Rhonda met me at my house because they wanted to be a part of this craft day. We piled our stuff into Mom's Expedition because everything was already in there, it had the room and she needed to get gas while we were out.  Of course, she made me drive.

We were a little bit late getting over to Nicole's house and lost our chance at the good parking spot on the street in front.  It started snowing while gathering our supplies out of the Expedition.  I always bring Fritos and cheese dip when I go over there because I know both of those are gluten free.  We found a place to set our stuff down and ate snacks. 

We all measured our fabric to the specifications -- we had to have Mom help us cut them since she was the expert and knew what she was doing.  We all pinned our edges and then went over to the sewing machine station.  There, we all had to have help sewing because most of us have never done machine sewing before.  I've done some hand sewing but not machine.  This took up the most time because we went about it slow and steady to avoid mistakes. 

Once we all had a turn using the sewing machine, next came the stuffing.  Nicole miscalculated how much we would need, and she and her mom went to JoAnne's really fast to go get some more. Meanwhile, we got to watch Lindsay struggle with Wes.  He wanted to be held instead of sitting in his play pen.  We kept telling her just to leave him in there to cry it out.  She gave in and continued to hold him.  Nicole and her mom came back shortly after, and we finished stuffing our pillows. Mine seemed lumpy but as we use it, it should flatten out.  We finished our pillows by hand sewing the open edge.

Everyone got their pillows done and we took a couple of group pictures before cleaning up our spaces. They all turned out great and we had fun learning some new crafting skills. We thanked Nicole for hosting, and we took our stuff out to Mom's Expedition.  It was still snowing.  

We drove back to my house and stopped to get gas at the Arco on the way there.  We got back to my place and Mom and Rhonda headed home.  Ben was playing his video games and I watched the rest of the Seahawk/Rams game.  We won that game 27-23.

A little while later, I asked Ben to help me bring the tree in so we could get it in the stand and decorate it.  He criticized my cutting job and told me he needed to even out the bottom.  This happens every year and we still don't have a proper saw.  I remembered that Doug had a skill saw but of course it was over at Grammie and Grandpa's house because they were working on the pump house.  Ughh lame.  I told Ben let's go to Lowe's and get ourselves a hand saw.  We found one that worked and now we have a saw and don't have to worry about it anymore when we come to this problem again in the future.

We came home, Ben trimmed the tree, we got it up in the stand and decorated it.  We got the lights on it, the garland and sprinkled it with all of our ornaments.  This year I was going to put my Cougar ornaments on my little Christmas tree that I purchased from Fred Meyer the previous year for $12. We ate done dinner, watched football and I decorated my Cougar tree while we did some laundry.  

I am never ready for the weekend to end.  I wish I had a job where I had a three-day weekend every weekend. 

Next Adventure:  Seattle Seahawks vs. Carolina Panthers