no elk here.

over Thanksgiving vacation, the hubs went hunting.*

rereading that sentence, i am struck by the feeling that this sort of thing probably isnt newsworthy in much of the country, and definitely should not be for a girl who grew up having the first day of hunting season as a day off of school. and yet, there it is. big news in my little family.

but this wasn't just any hunting trip - this was Mark's first time ever hunting, and he wasn't just hunting deer - he was hunting ELK. go big or go home, amirite? he borrowed all the appropriate hunting clothes from my brother and a guy from my parents church, and spent two days in the wilderness with my dad and a couple other guys. i sent him with my prayers that he would come back in one piece and not full of holes, and also with my camera. because elk hunting seemed to be a little more photo-worthy than what i was doing for those two days, which was mostly laying on the couch, reading books, and watching my brother play zelda while we each ate our own box of cheezits.

but you should just know - this is what you get when you trust the photo-documentation to someone else:

a picture of the butts of the guys you trusted with your hubs' life:

a picture of the hubs with the butts of the guys you trusted with your hubs' life in the background:

and a picture of... a deer. because it felt wrong to come home without any pictures of wildlife, and the HUNDREDS of elk that they saw were apparently too far away to get a picture of.

too far away to shoot a camera at, but not too far away to shoot a gun at. men and their priorities. i just don't get it.

*ok, so technically he wasn't the one hunting, because he didn't have a tag. but he did get to carry a gun, just in case he happened to be attacked by a bear. not even kidding. big game hunting is dangerous y'all!

thankful 2011: sleep-deprived edition.

so our Thanksgiving celebrations officially ended yesterday when we left Wyoming after lunch in Montana with Mom and Dad. when we got to the airport and had finished all our teary goodbyes, i realized that i hadn't really said goodbye to my brother the night before, and he had already left for school by the time i finally woke up that morning, so just real quick right now i need to say i love you Goob and i miss you and thank you for letting me lounge around on the couches in the big room with you this weekend reading my books and watching you play zelda. it was awesome.

after a long day of car rides and airplanes and layovers and more airplanes and a shuttle bus and another car ride, we were welcomed home in the twee hours of this morning rather unceremoniously by our dark little house, complete with its plastic-covered floors and the smell of paint still lingering in the air. the good news is that all the people who might have been thinking about burglaring our house while we were out must have taken my disclaimer the other day to heart and the house was just as we left it, which is good because i had a little moment of silent anxiety on the drive home from the airport just thinking about what a mess it would be if our travel-weary selves all of a sudden had to deal with police and insurance and all those other things we would have to do ifwe had been burgled and i'm just so glad that we were able to just brush our teeth and fall into bed before having to wake up WAY too early to head back to those pesky 9-5 jobs of ours.

but before i am forced to fall headlong into the Christmas season, (which i am REEEEEELY excited about in case you were wondering, and YAY for all the time Christmas music stations on the radio!) i still have a few more thankful things to share.

86. that the only thing that Mark lost while elk hunting was his phone, instead of something important like his toes.
87. that Mark was going to get a new phone in December anyway, and that he can make due without a phone until then.
88. cell phone alarms in the morning.
89. moms who will act as an alarm and wake you up in time to catch your flight home when you forget your phone in the kitchen and sleep through your alarm, even though she would rather you just stay at her house forever.
90. only having to take one day to travel across the country, instead of driving for three.
91. bathrooms that are not on an airplane.
92. being able to save time in the morning by picking out an outfit the night before.
93. being awake enough this morning to NOT drink the ladybug that found its way into my waterbottle.
94. perfectly hemmed pants to wear to work today.
95. knowing my route to work well enough by now to not have to think about it too much.
96. free coffee. twice as much as usual this morning.
97. having a suitcase full of wrapped Christmas presents to jumpstart my Christmas mood (they are not all for me, and none of them are from me either, but they are at my house so if you are my sisters and would like your presents, then you better plan on coming to my house!)
98. short weeks.
99. finishing the list.
100. home. and being able to leave home and come home all in the same day.

black friday thanks.

so officially the holiday is over and i'm supposed to be moving on into Christmas mode, but it is still November, and i still have so so so so much to be thankful for, including:

81. a whole day to spend on the couch with nothing to do but watch tv in front of the pellet stove.
82. knowing for sure that i get my love of paint from my mom.
83. not fighting through crowds and lines in stores today.
84. snuggly little rat-dogs. or maybe just one in particular.
85. really really delicious gluten-free cookies.

i'm a little bit determined to finish out my list, and also to do my best to keep up this thankful attitude through the upcoming Christmas season too, so stayed tuned for at least a couple more thankful-posts in the next week or so.

happy thanksgiving!

we made it 'home' safely. and i could not be more thankful to be able to be here and spend Thanksgiving being thankful with the fam!

76. singing with my mom.
77. shooting guns with my dad.
78. being able to watch the Macy's parade.
79. just relaxing and enjoying the holiday.
80. Thanksgiving dinner like my Momma always makes :)

self-explanatory thanks.

i know it's bad internet manners to announce when you're going to be away from home, but i am literally shaking with excitement in my desk chair and cannot not share that I GET TO SEE MY MOM AND DAD AND BROTHER TODAY!!!!  so today, i am thankful for travel and vacation related things such as:

71. paid holidays.
72. vacation time.
73. half-days.
74. airplanes.
75. a new book series to read on the plane.

and just an aside to all you people out there who might be thinking of "visiting" our house while we're gone, just know that our house is already half empty, and what is in it isnt worth much, AND we have a cop-neighbor who we're on good terms with... so don't waste your time on our place, or you might end up in jail over what would have been a complete bust anyway. no seriously, i'm really looking out for your best interests here.  

thanks for the weekend.

61. Saturdays.
62. waking up at 9, but feeling like you slept until 11.
63. leafless gutters.
64. having an area prepped for the garden in the spring.
65. shoe shopping.
66. friends to shoe shop with.
67. old school preachers.
68. laundry detergent.
69. tire pressure gauges.
70. spell-check.

title of the post.

as these lists go on, i feel like they're getting more cryptic, and less informative about whats going on in my actual day to day life. and i think i'm ok with that. and honestly, you should be too. because if it werent for these lists then you would be subjected to literally endless posts about how we are STILL painting and we are STILL only about half-done, because we STILL dont enjoy painting trim so we are STILL putting it off. and if we're being honest with ourselves, we all know that we don't need a play by play style documentation of something that boring and stretched out.

so in the interest of keeping all my millions dozens of lovely readers around for a while longer, here have a thankful list instead of a real update.

51. vaccuum cleaners.
52. love.
53. a blanket of crunchy leaves on the ground.
54. recognizing irony and just going with it.
55. my parents.
56. friends with sewing machines.
57. sisters. and having two of them.
58. leftovers.
59. showers.
60. that i found my passport. too bad its still in my maiden name.