A quiet, simple Thanksgiving
I am exceedingly grateful that Allan's family is very small, and that my family doesn't care about celebrating the holidays. Christmas and Thanksgiving are always very low-key: we meet up with Allan's family, which consists of his sister and her husband (and their dog), his dad, and his mom and stepdad. No myriad of people to keep track of and mingle with. No maniacal kids running around wreaking havoc (one little man can cause enough, thank you!) I remember when I was single, watching movies with such scenes and feeling a twinge of envy that I didn't have a large family like that to gather with. But then I got married and joined in on the Knight family traditions and discovered that I was

Unexpected free day
There I was, working away in my cubicle, when, at around 11:00am, my boss's boss came roaming around the hallways, chasing everyone home early for Thanksgiving. Todd was starting to get bored (I didn't realize he had a day off school today) so I wrapped up my work and jetted out at lunchtime. Apparently Allan's bosses were downstairs doing the same thing-- shooing their minions home early for the holidays, so the entire family took off and headed to Zodo's for lunch and bowling. Todd won. He was the only to score in the triple digits-- he got exactly 100, while Allan came in with 86 and I trailed with a measly 69. Hey, I'm just happy to have broken 50! We had originally planned

Seasonal illnesses
You know, it's strange-- last winter I didn't get a flu shot, and was laid up nearly every single month for a couple days with the flu-- fever, chills, nausea, the whole nine yards. It always came in cycles-- Todd would come down with something, he'd bounce back in a day, and a day after that I'd get sick. This year, I thought I'd be smart and get a flu shot. I figured that even if my skepticism about its effectiveness proves true and it doesn't work, I'm no worse off than I was last year. Besides, they were offering them at work for free, so, why not? Well, so far so good. No flu.What I *have* been hit with in waves, however, are some nasty COLDS! Started with a sor

The fun with neighbors
I'm listening to my neighbors talk as I type this post. Every single window and door in our apartment is shut tight-- and this is good quality dual pane stuff! Yet it's still not enough to block out the sounds of my neighbors prattling from across the street! If my windows were open, and if they were speaking English, I'm sure I'd catch every word of it. Nearly 4 years ago we moved into a 1-bedroom apartment in UCSB's family student housing, and had all sorts of fun dealing with noisy upstairs neighbors there. You can read more about it here:http:

Another lazy weekend
This weekend finally allowed the whole family to catch up on some much-needed rest. We turned in our keys to the old place on Friday afternoon, and what bliss it was, coming home on Friday evening and not having to rush off to clean it! We had full intentions of tidying up the new place this weekend-- most of the stuff is put away in cabinets and closets, but more in a cram/jam style without any semblance of order. But, of course, the best-laid plans never came to fruition. At least today was fairly productive-- Todd and I went shopping in the morning (I finally got a Snuggie!) and hit the library after lunch, and looked at a few open houses together. Todd especially likes explo