We had a great time over the break – I had three weeks off, whoop! – we made the trek down to Florida shortly after Christmas. This year, (most of) the Miller clan decided to try the single-gift-exchange approach. We all put our names in a hat and we each picked one person for whom we’d buy one gift. It worked out nicely. Some highlights: we managed to get Dan a nice 4-channel RC helicopter, which we flew-and-crashed all day long until we were just about out of spare parts; and I got a buttload of beers from around the world (thanks Val!!). So I’ll try to document each one here, as I partake… Continue reading “Around the world in 30 beers”
Category: Daily Life
…the stockings were hung by the chimney with care…
…in hopes that St. Nicholas overpacked (it’s only fair)…
Yes, that’s one stocking per member of the household living under our roof, not counting the hermit crabs that currently have a room for rent upstairs… how many can you name?
Even the kitchen sink…
| I’m obviously blog-happy lately, blogging everything including the kitchen sink. Which broke today. $4 at Home Depot and 45 minutes later, it was better than new (find the shiny part, that’s what I did). I guess I now have a fall-back career after the next dotbomb crash… |  |
Russian teacakes
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We are in the full throes of the Christmas season. I’ve taken vacation through the end of the year – there’s no better way to get in the mood! I love having time to get everything done. Including… baking! |
Here’s the Russian teacake recipe in detail…
Another canine “crosses our path”
We have a family tenet that we’ll try to give a helping hand to any dog that “crosses our path”. And so when mom Grammy and the girls saw a three-legged dog and a small puppy running around on the way back from horseback riding, on a speedy road with no house in sight, they pulled over to see what they could do. Believe it or not, the three-legged dog was too fast for them. :> But they think he was wearing a collar, so hopefully he’ll find his way home. The puppy, on the other hand, was playing in the road. They scooped her up and we arranged for her to get to the shelter. We’ll be checking in on her… so if you’re in the market for a beautiful little chocolate lab puppy… ;>
UPDATE: She’s been adopted, you’re too late. :>
Speech goes from Epcot to the living room…
We had fun tonight playing with speech synthesis in linux – I typed out commands and they were dutifully shouted by the computer, trying to get the dogs to obey, yelling random punishments at the kids, and performing other various stand-up schtick. Yes we’re easily amused. :> Brought back wonderful memories of my brother and me in the early 80’s filling the speech synthesizer at Epcot with [ fa q fa q ], hitting “go”, and sneaking away. Such delinquents. Continue reading “Speech goes from Epcot to the living room…”
9.5 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
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From the “Chapter 19 and holding” department… Inspired by the Gillespie family experiment, the Behrns-Millers have all decided to belatedly crank through all that is Harry Potter. We’re knee-deep in the books, audio books, and movies. Maybe they’re to blame for my recent lack of posts… :> |
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Halloween!
Beatnik day for Reiley and me
Reiley and I had a fun day yesterday. Wrenny headed over to Grammy’s for a sleepover, and mom painted most of the day. So Reiley and I had some adventures! We started off playing a big game of Age Of Empires ]I[ with the Warchiefs expansion, she and I facing off against a couple computer players. She swept the game, topping every stat by the end. I guess I don’t need to fear roughing her up one-on-one any more – the inverse being MUCH more likely.
After that, we went for coffee – she’s been sneaking sips of my soy lattes, I’m horribly addicted ever since Seattle where Starbucks had me surrounded on every street corner – and she talked me into getting her own (SMALL) soy latte. We read for over an hour, really nice. She finished up her book just in time for me to take her to the book club for which she was reading. Then she continued her adventures with her drama group.
After Wrenny got home from dinner with Grammy at Crazy Fire, I went out to round up grub for everyone else – a fajita for Andrea and chinese for Reiley, and we all chilled out. It was just the right kind of busy, relaxing day.