Wednesday, December 21, 2016

It's Been a Long Time: October, November, and December

I didn't realize it's been more than 2 months since I last wrote. I finished the semester, celebrated Halloween, Thanksgiving, Sinterklaas, and Santa Lucia and Christmas is Sunday. We elected a new president and I made a wedding dress with Starlyn. I'm pretty bad.

For our Halloween Book Club, we dressed up and I went as the bee Snapchat filter. Snapchat is an app on the phone that changes your face and/or voice for sending messages. I love the bee filter. Erin, my TA, did my makeup and I looked pretty good. I was gonna be Ken Bone. He's a big guy that wore a big red sweater to a presidential debate and made quite a splash with his question and appearance.





Of course I wore my sweatshirt to work 
We had 2 Thanksgiving dinners and I was pretty wiped out by the end. We had a family get-together at the Sykes on Friday, complete with Derek and Rachel and family in town. But, my kids wanted Thanksgiving on Thursday and wanted leftovers, so I did the whole thing on Thursday, then repeated pies, rolls, and green beans on Friday. We also took a spinach artichoke dip on Friday. Yep, I was a bit cranky by Friday night. It was sure fun to see the Hunters visiting from California. Mom commented that we didn't take a single picture. Derek said we have the memories.


Our former TA Elaina is getting married soon. She kinda had a falling out with her mom and as a result, her mom pulled her financial support. Elaina was beside herself, trying to figure out how she could get a dress. When Starlyn and I saw what she wanted, we realized we could make it. It was a bit tricky since Elaina is in Texas. But, we got her measurements and picked out fabric via skype. I quickly made up a mock top and sent it to her for a fitting. She wanted a few tweaks. I was then able to make the top. Starlyn and I made the skirt. Some co-workers contributed some money, which helped. It turned out great. When I mentioned the project in Relief Society, a visitor came up to me later and told me she is a photographer and wanted to take pictures for Elaina, free of charge. It was so nice of her. Elaina came in town the first part of November and the dress fit like a glove. She and her mom made up and that was great. I hope all goes well. I'm sure it will be a beautiful wedding. Wish I could be there. Erin will go and represent the foods lab. I must admit. It felt really nice to help with something so important. I love these TA's and I loved working with Starlyn. At one point, Star called me in tears. She was struggling with the skirt. I went down to her house and we got it figured out and got it done.

This dress was $300

Erin, Elaina, me, Starlyn. I think we did pretty good for less than $150.




We had a Presidential election. It looked like Hilary Clinton was a shoe-in. The media put out every bad story about Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, and gave excuses for any indiscretion (or illegal act) Hilary had. Election night was crazy. I was actually sewing with Starlyn and told her husband, Lee, to put on the election returns. States were being called for Trump. WHAT?! We got the skirt done with time for me to get home to watch final election returns. Mel was home and all her friends came over. We stayed up pretty late. Nothing was final by the time I went to bed, but it looked like Trump would win and he did. Since he won, we've had tons of liberals complaining and whining. They have said they feel unsafe, threatened, etc. College students are saying they can't live any longer. They don't know what to do. Are you kidding me? Welcome to losing. Deal with it. You'll be fine.


Levi Patterson, Keenan, Parker Shelby, Brooke Walker, Meghan Winward, Kobi Watkins, Allie, and Melia

Kamiko went to California and brought me an excellent belated birthday gift. Disneyland's California Adventure is closing one of our favorite rides for a while. They're changing the Twilight Zone's Tower of Terror to Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm not excited about it at all. BIG MISTAKE. I remember when they changed the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse to Tarzan. It's never been the same. Well, Kamiko brought me this awesome shirt. I love it. In fact, I'm wearing it right now. My boy knows his mom.


Ugh. I look especially old without eye makeup


Oh, another great thing Kamiko did was to invite me to be his "plus one" at his work Christmas party. It was a nice dinner up at Sundance Ski Resort. We had a great time. I borrowed a dress from Mel. When we walked in, we each got to pick 2 gifts. I chose a necklace and earrings. I kept them for me. For a split second, I thought of getting stuff the girls would like, but then I decided I wanted mementoes from the party, so I chose stuff for me. We had a lot of fun. Great food. They also did a drawing and every employee won something. Kamiko got a $100 Costco gift card which I bought from him. He also got a bonus and a nice jacket. The downside of the jacket is that it says the name of his work across the back and all over the lining. Hahahah


Speaking of jackets, all Adcocks are now proud owners of Columbia jackets. Allie had one. I had one. Kamiko and Mel needed jackets so we bought them each one for Christmas and they picked out Columbia. I know Keenan has one somewhere, too.





So, Christmas approaches. I have all my kids at home. And all their junk, too, because they're all in between apartments. Kamiko has bought someone's contract in Provo and will move in later in December. Allie bought a contract in Provo, too. She has moved some of her stuff, but stays here at the house because nobody is in Provo. Mel is changing dorms. She's moving from Stover Hall to Hinckley Hall, so she had to bring all her stuff home. Wow. Kamiko's mission buddy Mark Rice was also here for about 3 weeks with all of his stuff. He's also in between apartments. It's a regular hotel. It was fun having Mark here. He seemed to enjoy the Sinterklaas festivities of chocolate and nerf guns. 

I'm watching all the Hallmark Christmas movies I can. The shopping is done. Mel got her wisdom teeth out. She was very weepy on the meds right after the procedure. Her top teeth were rough. She's been swollen and unable to eat much for 5 days now. She just graduated to grilled cheese sandwiches. She's hoping to fully enjoy Chinese food at Fong's on Saturday (Christmas Eve). I had my first colonoscopy and survived. Things are just fine.

Annual gingerbread house making. We cheat and buy the kits. It's so fun.

Mel's friend Larissa joined us. She'd never done gingerbread houses before.