Elisa’s Neighborhood

Its New Years Eve and I can safely say we have survived another holiday season!!!  Much out of character, I didn't take any photos this year, even though I schlepped my swanky camera down to DE and up to NJ....  I don't have a lot of energy to recap.  We didn't get too much from Santa this year (too bad he didn't come through with our house -- I guess that wish is too big, even for Santa).  Thankfully, Adam's dad & my mom were on board with postponing Christmas gifts until we are in the house, and have a better idea of what we need. 

It was a Delaware Christmas this year - we alternate which set of families we see each year -- trying to see 4 families over two days to make all of THEM happy was driving US completely crazy and zapped the holiday spirit right out of us.  We spent Christmas Eve with Adam's dad, which was lovely and very low-key.  Christmas day, as expected, with his mom and stepmom was a bit more stressful, boring, dreadful (pick your adjective), but not actually as bad as I had been bracing for. 

The following day, for the first time ever, I hit the post-Xmas sales.  I was about 10sec too late getting to Target and this woman was grabbing the last 5 boxes of Chrismas tree lights as I turned down the aisle - damn!  They were also out of the Christmas ornaments I really wanted at Crate & Barrel.... I did OK though and ended up with some decorations that will work great in the new house (or this apartment - grrr!) next year!  We got motivated in the afternoon and made the drive to Jersey to see my mom's family, which was celebrating that evening.  They are my favorite Christmas celebration.  We have appetizers, german soup (maultaschen- that 7 of us had made Thanksgiving weekend), and plenty of dessert.  What's not to love? 

My mom got me the best present!  She went to Build-A-Bear and had a Wolf made for our little Wolfie!

I can't really "nest" since we don't have a house.  I've joked that we are reverse nesting, since we are packing.  Over the last few weeks I have done a lot of baking as well, which is unlike me.  I don't tend to enjoy baking because you have to be so exact with the ingredients and the order that things go into the batter.  I lean towards muffins & breads that are hard to screw up.  In particular, I make yummy cranberry/walnut muffins and banana bread.  I was at work one day (being my unproductive self) and stumbled upon a NY Times collection of Christmas cookie recipes.  In the bunch was a receipe for Linzer cookies that looked very much like something my late grandmother used to make.  I got inspired and made a double batch that evening.  This required going out and buying a rolling pin - since we had no idea where our old one was packed!!  Pretty funny!   

It ended up being a lot of hard work - four hours and lots of butter later, this is what I had accomplished.  

These cookies are harder than they look.  Every cookie is actually two cookies since you need to bake the tops & bottoms seperate and then add the jelly and sugar glaze afterwards.  They were particulary tricky because 1) it turns out I don't do well with rolling pins, 2) the star shape I started with was huge and too intricate to keep its shape, 3) it was had to keep the holes in the center round(ish).  Adam is usually pretty scared of my cooking attempts. Mainly because the kitchen looks like this afterwards!

I hope we have an au pair that enjoys cokoing and/or baking!!  It would be fun to have someone to do this with next year.  Some company, A GLASS OF WINE, and some festive music were all missing from this baking experience.  I'll get it right next year! 

I CAN'T BELIEVE that 2009 is ending with us still living in this darn apartment!!!  House drama has continued until the bitter end of the year....  We have known that our settlement date would be getting pushed back until January, but are still waiting to hear if the contractor/developer will pay the $1,200+ for us to get a mortgage extension.  Since the original settlement date was November 30th and our mortgage window gave them over a month grace-period to get completed, we don't think this is an expense we should have to shoulder.  They are blaming current delays on the recent snow storm - this, admittedly, put them behind schedule, but doesn't explain why little was accomplished in late November/early December... had they not been so behind to begin with, the storm wouldn't have set them back like it did.

We went to visit the house on Tuesday, with my dad, stepmom, and sister in tow.  The place was really hoppin' while we were there and the contractor thought he would get finished next week.  We still need to have a home inspection and they need a certificate of occupancy, so our January 6th mortgage deadline wasn't going to be met.  We'd still like to move over the long-weekend, but are probably pushing our luck.  Luckily, the water damage that Adam noticed last week (I couldn't type about it - I just didn't want to get into it), was not a big deal.  It was related to their temporary gutter and not structural or roof issues -- thank goodness.  We have some drama with the hardwood (they aren't putting in what we selected AGAIN), and since our realtor doesn't return phone calls, I don't know where we stand.....  I'm getting pretty sick and tired of the amount of concessions that we have to make in the interest of not delaying the project further....

It should really start looking like a "real" house soon.  The primer is already up and they will be finalizing electric, painting, and add fixtures, cabinets, etc in the next week....

 

Funny how your reading list changes as you hit Life Milestones.  I worked my Junior League Thrift Shop hours a few weeks ago and couldn't resist buying some books before the day was done - At $3/book it was hard to resist!

Here's what is on my bedside table lately:

Hard not to love a good Crichton book!  The problem I'm having is that you have to pay so much attention to the parellel plot lines in the beginning it isn't really good pre-sleep reading material.  I have the rest of the week off (YEAH!!!), so I'm planning on finding some time to put a dent in this book soon. 

This is a feel good feminist book that keeps stating the obvious (that is hard to change) and is as redundant as could be, but I'm going to finish it anyway....

This book is absolutely awful and barely worth the $3 I spent on it... I'll have to go pull it tomorow and grab some quotes -- the author tells parents to talk to their babies as if they are adults that can understand everything you say.  For example, when you bring the baby home from the hospital, give them a tour of their new house --- because it would be rude not to show them around....  what??? 

 

I recall when I first heard 50 Cent's latest single.  I was in the shower, and found the diction of it quite entertaining.  Listening to the song on the crappy radio I keep in "my" bathroom in my parents' house, under the sound of running water, for the life of me, it sounded like the man was singing, "Baba-bay-bee-ba-bee-baby". 

Turned out I wasn't too far off.  Subsequent listens enlightened me to that the real lyrics were "Have a baby by me, baby, be a millionaire."  50 doesn't just sing this once.  He does it over, and over, and over.  27 times, by my count, in the span of a 3.5 minute song.  Dude is serious about this offer.  (I could do a great blog post analyzing 50's offer from a contract law perspective, but we'll save that for another day.)

Another day at home, another shower.  This time, "I Get Money" was playing, a song with which I'm a bit more familiar.  For the first time I noticed that, nestled into the lyrics, there is:
"Have a baby by me, baby, be a millionaire / I'll sign the check before the kid comes, who the $@% cares?"

So, first he put it in this song.  I suppose that didn't work, so 50 decided he'd have to drive the point home a little harder.  One line wouldn't be enough.  The time had come to write an entire song about the premise.

As an avid reader of celebrity gossip, I am aware that 2009 was a banner year for Lil' Wayne in terms of procreation.  It became clear that he had impregnated two women within a month or two of each other, resulting in his becoming a father of two more in a very quick period of time.  Lil' Wayne seems to be having no trouble finding women to accede to an offer of the nature of 50 Cent's, in spite of his not giving such an explicit offer.  One wonders, why is 50 continuing to strike out?

Therefore, I think we ought to establish a coalition to find a woman willing to have a baby "by" 50 Cent, in exchange for $1m+.  His desire to do so cannot be manifested much more clearly - I mean, the next logical step would be for him to prowl the streets wearing a sandwichboard emblazoned with his offer.

Let's not forget what 50 has given us.  We had "In Da Club", arguably one of the best hip-hop songs of the decade.  This is the man who was unafraid to ask "21 Questions", proudly proclaimed himself a "P.I.M.P.", and educated us on the merits of the "Magic Stick" and the "Candy Shop" (basically the same song, but oh well).  Let's give something back to 50.  Let's find someone willing to get knocked up by him in exchange for cash.

Ob ich 2010 wohl dazu komme wieder etwas mehr zu bloggen? Mal schauen :-)
Aber Weihnachts-Impressionen gibt es schon mal: