Staying Busy Before Christmas

Posted on by Jordan

It’s probably a bad sign that every time I sit down to write a post now, I have to fight hard against the urge to spend a paragraph explaining why I am so late in getting the post up…

Anyway, remember that pile of butter from before?

We baked it into hundreds of cookies, and then invited friends over to help decorate!

The event quickly demonstrated we could probably use more variety in Christmas themed cookie cutters, and decorating widgets. On the other hand, Christmas cookie accessories more or less match the “only get used once a year” type of thing I have been known to complain about storing (and moving). I could probably make an exception for things cookie related however.

I did make it clear that there were lots of cookies right?

Everyone took home a heaping plate, and we still had enough left over to represent the Nelsons in two cookie exchanges!

The following weekend, Heather and I made a quick trip down to the KC area for a wedding shower. It was a nice shower, and I wound up having some really interesting conversations with a number of the guests. All the same, if you are planning a shower don’t worry about hurting my feelings if you made it girls only. I am perfectly content to entertain myself 🙂

Because we were going to be in the area Sunday, we headed over to Liberty MO. to meet up with some friends and attend their church. In a rare turn of events, we were running way ahead of schedule when we parked the car in Liberty. I had seen a few of these on the way in:

It was a beautiful old neighborhood, so Heather and I both were eager to walk around and explore… if perhaps for different reasons. You will have to indulge a small tangent here so I can comment on the fact that it was a beautiful day, worth noting mostly because I don’t know how many weekends in December lend themselves to walking around outside for fun.

Back to the mysterious silhouette! A few blocks down the road we found a former presidential mansion!

It may be impossible to see in the small picture there, but the plaque explains that this was once the home of Harry S Truman. A few blocks farther and we were in the historic square and downtown area. It would be difficult not to notice the signs of decline creeping into the area, but it was clear that large amounts of energy have been expended to make the square inviting to walk around in. They have historical site markers and plaques explaining the significance of the area at a density unrivaled by any town square we have ever toured.

Near the far end of the square we finally encountered the man himself:

Then it was back across the square, back to the church, and then back to Des Moines!

-Jordan

Preparations

Posted on by Jordan

Hi there!

Instead of posting over the past few days I have found myself working a lot more than expected, and in my free time slowly using up the contents of this picture:

(not pictured, 15 cups of flour large quantities of sugar)

You may be thinking “…but Heather and Jordan are always eating healthy things, and Heather doesn’t even eat sweets”

Right you are my friend! But what you haven’t considered is how much we wanted to create some Christmas traditions for ourselves. The plan is to finish baking several hundred cookies and then invite friends over to help decorate them. Hopefully sending the majority of the finished cookies home with the decorators. (Otherwise I am going have no choice but to eat them, thus feeling sick from too many cookies every day for weeks)

🙂

-Jordan

Skating And Cookies

Posted on by Jordan

It looks like I am just going to have to accept that winter is here.

This past weekend was full of winter activities, starting here:

Look at all those people lined up! You would almost think we started going to trendy places in town or something…

Well, no actually those are all middle school students and you just can’t see the line of min-vans dropping them off. The question remains, what could everyone be lined up to do?

Ice skate:

The rink wasn’t overly large, but it was outside, and downtown making for a fairly cool atmosphere. An atmosphere lessened by the surprisingly young clientele combined with the unrelenting inappropriate “dance” songs being played by the helpful live DJ.  (Then again maybe I am just getting old /sigh )

Heather and I went out to the skate rink with a few of her friends from work. Our little group had a great time, despite the unexpected atmosphere.

Note that we captured the entire city skyline in that picture 🙂

The next morning, we pulled together some cookie recipes and got the ingredients just in time for a friend of Heather’s to come over and bake with her. Six hours later, they had enough cookies to pass out to our entire building, and then some:

That night, we went out for dinner and wrapped up the night driving around some of the Des Moines hot spots for Christmas lights. I worry that we may be peaking early, but I am starting to feel ready for Christmas.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights all included knocking on doors here at our building to hand out plates of cookies. We tried a similar thing a few years ago, and didn’t meet with much success. I am happy to report that this year nearly everyone we tried was home, and we met some great neighbors!

-Jordan

Bastion

Posted on by Jordan

I just finished playing through Bastion. I wasn’t exactly on the leading edge of people playing though this game, thanks to my pattern of buying most of my games when they go on sale… all the same it’s somewhat current.

Well, let me back up and give a little context to what I am thinking about.

This week I read and article (which I am unable to find now…) that was talking about how research found that spending money on an experience rather than an item tended to have a larger and more lasting impact on a persons life. The author was using that research to argue for taking classes or going on trips etc.

OK, Back to Bastion… It’s a great ride. The game play is fun, something that should not be taken for granted, but they nailed an atmosphere in ways I haven’t seen done in games for quite a while.

To start with, the game is narrated in a way that responds to events as you play. It may not sound that interesting, but the effect is satisfying. It doesn’t hurt that the narrator has a great voice for the job…

Here is a small example:

There isn’t much to the story, but I found myself always wanting to play one more level just to find out what happened next.

I shouldn’t wander too far into review territory, there are plenty of places online you can go for that kind of thing.

Having finished the game, I couldn’t help but think about the ideas from that article on how experiences stick with you and how that applied. It was an experience that grabbed me, and it felt amazing to close out the story. It would probably be wrong to reach too far ideologically while I am still so excited about the game, but it is interesting to think about what kind of returns I got from my time and money.

-Jordan

November Close Out

Posted on by Jordan

I was going to write a Thanksgiving recap post… and then realized it would basically be a list of food and family.

Lets be honest, I enjoyed both. Probably more than enough food and not enough socializing with family, still Thanksgiving was great.

Other news around here is that our microwave quit working. In a way it’s a milestone, being the first real unexpected expense as homeowners now that we are fully moved. Not really a happy milestone, but a milestone none the less.

In a related note, I am proud to say that we have gone a week without it now, and it hasn’t impacted our meal-planning to any discernible extent. Probably my biggest frustration is that I can’t make a single cup of tea at night very quickly without it.

aaaand I am going to wrap this up before I got off on 1000 different tangents. I forgot how hard it is to write a post when I don’t have a topic and a rough draft in mind when I sit down 🙂

I will close with a picture of Heather and I in a goose blind. It’s probably the closest she will ever be to hunting with me, so It’s worth sharing right?

-Jordan

Bonus link: If you haven’t seen mike Rowe talk about work, watch it