Random talk thread!

[audball]

Either way, star, you're still under a year so you can hang out with us too!!

 

[star sparkle]

Interesting. There's a big difference between 1 and 3 years, IMO.

I agree. I think definitely a newlywed up to 1 year. I can even buy 2 years since there are usually lots of changes for couples off the bat (some include house buying). Most of my friends have jumped on the TTC wagon by year 3 so for me that feels outside of the realm of newlywed.

Yeah, I just think of the differences even between years 1-3 of dating. For us, we went from not even knowing each other to married in the first 3 years!

 

[audball]

Yeah, I just think of the differences even between years 1-3 of dating. For us, we went from not even knowing each other to married in the first 3 years!

Ditto! We were married on the third anniversary of the day we first met, and we'd only been dating 2 years and a few months.

 

[TooPatient]

Sorry to hear your DH has to work the day after. That is no fun! I love your arrangement though -- you get to spend time with all of your family and not have to choose where to be!

What sort of work does he do that they are open the day after?
You must work in education? That is great that you've got paid time off at the end of the year!

We're going to my grandparents' house on Thursday and bringing something. Not sure what yet...
They always do the turkey & gravy. My aunt, mom, and I have taken to coordinating on the rest of it so they don't have to do all of the cooking.

I'll cook a full turkey dinner at home on Friday.

 

[TooPatient]

A random thought/question - for how long is one considered a newlywed? A year of marriage? Less/more than?

I think most people would consider you newlyweds definitely for the first year. And I think I read, maybe here on PS, that you're a "newlywed" for the first 2 years.

ETA: A quick Google search yielding opinions ranging from 1 to 3 years.

Interesting. There's a big difference between 1 and 3 years, IMO.

Interesting question!

I think at least the first year. Possibly more depending on the couple.

DH and I were together for 9 1/2 years prior to getting married! Knew each other a year earlier. Of that, we lived together for just shy of 9 years with the last 5 1/2 years in the house we bought.

When he first moved in with me.... Gah! That took getting used to! I can easily imagine people who have been together less time who haven't lived together still being "newlywed" for a couple of years.

 

[TooPatient]

Either way, star, you're still under a year so you can hang out with us too!!

Please stick around and play!

 

[audball]

Me too! I'm so bummed he has to work. We do like that we have always managed to see both families without conflict. Everyone is pretty flexible and that's great.

DH is a mechanical engineer. He works for a small private company and they only grant 6 federal holidays as paid days off (in addition to vacation time, of course). They get New Years Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Which is so sad because I get 11 standard holidays and a few floating holidays: New Years Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving Day, The Day After Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, and 2-4 floating days depending on what the President decides to grant. This is usually 3, but this year is 4. I work for a major state university. The way our federal holidays fell, there are only 3 working days between Christmas Eve/Christmas Day and New Years Eve/New Years Day. Three years ago, they did a cost analysis and found out since so many employees voluntarily took vacation days between the Christmas and New Years closures, that it cost them more money to keep the university open and running for the limited employees who chose to work those days that it cost them less to grant an additional 2-4 paid days off per employee to just shut it down. So they have done so and it's great!

I love turkey. I'm excited for Thanksgiving food! We're in charge of bringing bread, gravy, and dessert to my sister's. She's making a few pies so my little sister requested the cupcakes we made last year. They're pumpkin chocolate chip with cinnamon cream cheese icing all from scratch. So yum.

For his family, we've been asked to bring dessert as well so we're making DH's pumpkin bread that they love so much to snack on while we're cooking and we're making a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. It's a new recipe we haven't done before so we hope it turns out well! It's all form scratch too, including the crust. We also bought some natural vanilla bean ice cream to take too.

 

[TooPatient]

I've always wondered about places that stay open with just a few people around! It seems like such a waste.

Great that they just give you those days

Those cupcakes sound amazing!

I love turkey so much that I usually cook 6-10 whole turkeys (about 20 pounds each) at home. Roasted with different herb/spice combinations, slow smoked, turned into soup or sandwich or mole or.....

So far it looks like I'll send up some fresh herbs from our garden along with homemade bread cubes for the stuffing. Other than that, I'm waiting to find out. We don't want a repeat of the year we had FOUR cranberry sauces!

 

[star sparkle]

Neither of us get ever get the Friday after Thanksgiving off, unless we put in to take it as a day off. I never have, only because it's so low key in the office and nothing is going on anyway, so it's not a big deal.

DH and I are doing our first married Thanksgiving all by ourselves! Neither of us have ever cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner alone, so it should be interesting at the very least. I've got a few recipes that sound good for different things and I just picked up a 3lb turkey breast yesterday (we definitely don't need a whole turkey for just the two of us), and I'm looking forward to it!

 

[TooPatient]

Exciting! I hope your first Thanksgiving dinner will be a delicious success!

 

[audball]

TP - WOW! That's a lot of turkey! And all the fresh herbs!? Mmm!

SS - I wouldn't take it off if I didn't get it as a paid holiday, but since I have it off it would be so nice if DH did too! And he used his handful of vacation days for our elopement/honeymoon getaway so he doesn't have any time left. He does have 2 sick days to use by the end of the year, but they can't be used for vacation.

I think your just for two Thanksgiving sounds wonderful! We always do my family not on the day of so last year we did it on Friday I think? But his Mom wasn't living in our city last year and did Thanksgiving with some coworkers and his sister/brother in law alternate between their families and last year was her husband's family. So we did Thanksgiving just the two of us last year and had fun! We did not make a traditional Thanksgiving meal since I had never done it before and didn't want to go to all the trouble for just us, especially since we were having all the traditional goodies the next day, so we made my fried chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits, etc. And had leftovers chicken biscuits for breakfast!

I'll take some pictures of the pumpkin treats were going to make and post them!

 

[beezygal]

Wow! I have lots to catch up! We Will be married for 3 yrs next aug!

 

[TooPatient]

We planted fresh herbs a few years ago and they are thriving!

LOTS of rosemary, sage (two types), thyme (three types) and more. I cut a big bag at Thanksgiving and bring it to my grandparents a few days early to use with the turkey and stuff.

There was SO MUCH this summer that I couldn't keep up with them all. I started taking grocery bags and filling them with oregano (Greek and Mexican), thyme (lemon, lime, and silver), sage (purple and traditional), and rosemary to give to neighbors and family members. We've also got lots of lavender, chives, mint (multiple varieties), and lemon balm. Added scallions this summer so I'm not sure if they will grow back next year or not.

We LOVE fresh foods!

We've got four different varieties of blueberries, strawberries, a fig tree (not yet producing but it should be soon!), a quince tree (also not producing yet), and blackberries that come back every year.

I want to add a couple of apple trees and a few varieties of raspberries this next year!

Our hope is to eventually have pears, grapes, nectarines, peaches, plums, kiwi, and Asian pears too.

Veggies are less successful...
Will try again next year! Getting better each season

 

[TooPatient]

OMG tapioca flour stinks!

I'm trying to make wheat-free pasta for myself so am using tapioca flour for the first time. It smells NASTY! DH can smell it all the way in the living room. He says that maybe it tastes better when cooked..... Yeah.... easy for him to say since he's not the one eating it!

 

[TooPatient]

Yuck!!!

Okay.... The pasta tasted almost as bad as it smelled

DH and "A" had regular wheat pasta (homemade fresh) with a yummy homemade pasta sauce and meatballs and more fresh baked bread. My wheat-free pasta did NOT work out. It was so gross! I ended up scraping the sauce off of my noodles and just eating it with some microwaved corn. Of course the corn tasted nasty because I forgot what I was doing and used the microwave so it had this awful burned plastic sort of taste (the memories of coming home from the wedding linger on ).
Great for weight loss. Not so great for balanced health -- I finished the day with about 500 calories (including my mocha and a glass of wine...)


I'm told it is possible to make good wheat-free pasta....
May as well try some of the other flours I have in the house before I give up, but these nasty failures leave me not very interested in ever eating pasta again!

 

[beezygal]

Aww. To make you feel better. My dinner turned out gross. Ek! Hubby is new making popcorn cuz we are still hungry. Hubby off tomorrow, we can stay up and watch tv.

 

[TooPatient]

Your chicken didn't work out?!? It looked so good in the picture!

I'm sorry it didn't work out. Yay for popcorn though!

Enjoy your popcorn and TV!

I'm off to bed.... have to get up at 4:30 tomorrow morning for yoga

 

[beezygal]

Chicken was gross. Still have a lot of left over. Gonna do something to alter the taste. Don't want to throw them away.

Popcorn didn't work out great either! Hubby burned the popcorn.

Wow! 4:30am for yoga! can't do that. Lol.

 

[TooPatient]

I hate burned popcorn!
Hmmm... Alter the flavor? It could be done! Maybe something like tomatoes & cinnamon?

Hope you have a great lunch together today though!


Yoga is one time per week and it is a challenge to drag myself out of bed. It wouldn't be nearly as bad but "A" has trouble getting ready in the morning so I have to shower and leave myself extra time to deal with whatever she's doing (yeah... we're working on this! She is now getting up to her own alarm or being woken up with 10 minutes to dress and rush out of the house so it isn't "so much nicer" when I have to wake her up )

It helps with my back pain so it is worth it. Remembering that when the alarm goes off this early is hard!
My back was injured in a car accident almost 10 years ago and was sore ever since then. It hit me BAD earlier this year so I was unable to dress myself or even stay standing for a couple of minutes when left leaned against a couch Took lots of work with a chiropractor and an expensive back brace, but I'm back in alignment and just working at strengthening my muscles so it stays that way. Yoga is a (reasonably) gentle way to help stretch my back to realign and also strengthen muscles for long term help.

I've only got one more class left after today. Too many classes already for the next two quarters so I can't sign up for the extra credit hour. DH would benefit from yoga too so when his dr says he is able I have the phone number of a great yoga instructor who will come to our house and do private lessons with us.... NOT at 4:30am

 

[TooPatient]

WooHoo

Something to look forward to in life


DH's ex-wife's sister will be coming to town in December and invited herself to stay overnight with us. She and DH never liked each other. She's always been rude and nasty or sickly sweet in a fake sort of way.
It is only one night. I'm going to arrange for "A" (her niece) and her sister (A's mom) to spend Saturday together OUT of our house and then her flight leaves at something like noon the next day.
I can survive that...
It is at least better than causing major drama by being honest...

 

[audball]

Bummer both of your dinner's weren't good!

TP -- it takes dedication to get up that early. Good for you! It's wonderful that it helps your back. And re: your DH's ex-wife's sister inviting herself to stay over at your house? Um...no. I'd have put a stop to that. She needs to make other arrangements. You are far nicer than I am.

 

[beezygal]

Tp: That sucks! At least it's just for a day! How was yoga? I am excited for lunch. Have to teach a couple of students first. No school for them today. The mom wants them to have lessons earlier. I am ok with that because that means I get to finish earlier tonight!

Hi audball! How's your day so far?

 

[audball]

Pretty good day today! We had something I was working on explode with problems. I was working with the department to correct the issues and get it cleaned up. The department manager emailed my boss and said some really nice things about me! She shared it with me this afternoon.

The department wrote, "Just a quick note...you have great employees. Audball is just awesome and very patient with us. I just wanted to tell you but I'm sure you already know that. I love her emails. Very thorough too. I need that. It seems like you have a great team over there."

Kind of made my day!

And as soon as DH gets home, we get to get our bake on...pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese icing! We made them last year and they were a big hit. Here's a picture of last year's!

 

[TooPatient]

Beezy -- How was lunch!?

Audball -- Those look delicious!


Yeah.... I should have told her no but it is a complicated mess and just not worth the drama that would come. I'm hoping we can keep her busy out of the house with "A" (not us!) until late Saturday so she'd pretty much just sleep on the couch and then leave.
Still

 

[audball]

Thanks TP!

 

[TooPatient]

We've got to get on with picking a new last name!

I have to apply for graduation in just a couple of weeks and it will be easier if I know what name to have printed on the certificates.
Okay... And I just want to share a name already!

DH had a favorite last name (the Hebrew word for first -- since we'd be the first of our new family) but it sounded weird to me and everyone I talked with agreed that it didn't really fit us. Rabbi suggested a modification and I like the sound of that better. We're still not sure if that is what we want to go with though.

 

[audball]

Interesting! I wish we could help, but of course, that would reveal your identity! I hope you are able to figure something out that you both love and can be sharing a name soon!

 

[TooPatient]

I'd love some help! It is surprisingly difficult to pick a whole new name.

Do you think it sounds "odd" to have a two syllable first name paired with a two syllable last name? I didn't think it does, but someone commented on this as something psychological that people feel when they hear a name.

His first name is Bruce. I'm Bridget.

The name we are sort of considering starts with an R. I guess I'm still sort of torn on liking the sound of an R last name or not.

Here is a great link to Jewish name meanings: LINK


ETA: "A" will not be changing her name. She has her mother's last name (she kept her maiden name even when they were married) and we're not going to change that. If she wants to change it later by her own choice then she can do it then. Most of her mother's family was killed in the Holocaust so there are very few of the family left.

 

[TooPatient]

I just found a website of Sephardic (Jews from Spain) last names. OMG there are so many!

LINK

 

[audball]

Fun! I do not think it's weird at all to have a two syllable first name and two syllable last name. I think it's more common than you think. My husband's is 2 each, in fact! And I can think of a dozen friends as well.

I love that you're both "B" names!

It's hard to give an opinion without knowing the actual name, but I have a friend who's name is similar to Bruce and who's last name starts with an R (two syllables) and it's a very nice, strong name. Her brother has a two syllable name starting with B and his name is also very nice! R is a nice letter

With A already being 14, I'm not surprised in the not changing her name. Like you said, she's used to it by now and if she wants to change it later, she can. And in all likelihood, she will opt to change it when she marries someday anyway.