Monthly Archives: November 2010

Ginormous Family

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This Thanksgiving, we were thankful for everyone. We should have spent the holiday with someone, but we didn’t. We had a just us Thanksgiving.

With my parents here earlier in the month we talked about when I was little and my Dad’s family had 200 cousins 300 second cousins and more crazy people than fit in a house stuffed in to a house. I miss that.

MK has gotten closer to both sides of his family now that we are married, and we have that family again – a BIG one. His Daddy and Mommy have big ol’ families.

Both our families are spread out, and we’re trying to plan the best plan for family times. We wish we could be with everyone – our being with “no one” was our way to stay out of trouble – but we talked about it and have divided our time pretty fairly ( I was surprised to admit it)!

Even though we’ve been married five years, as we talk about starting a family we’re lost. How do you prioritize family time? I wish everyone could fly here – I’d do it all. I wish we could blend our families and make them meet halfway – we are in the middle of the easts/wests both our families have.

Even for little things – it was my Uncle’s birthday last night, so we toasted him, as we do every family member – I kind of stink at sending cards…how do you make it work??

Facebook was and is a uniter, we appreciate it so much. But it isn’t enough! We need a plan!!

Suggestions?

Ski Bums Rule

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While Momm and Dadd were here we talked a bit about life – how I never thought this life is what we’d end up living, MK and I. And we’re still young, things will change, but for three winters we get up and see snow and it’s Christmas morning every morning.

Continuing my last post a bit, we talked to some really cool neighbors. Our neighborhood prides itself on how authentic it is. There is only one other more hardcore neighborhood here, I’d say. Those people snowmobile to their houses. I heard a story last night about a lady who rented a house for the month she gave birth then moved back in to her house once the baby was bigger and she didn’t mind taking it on her snowmobile. I don’t know how those people get groceries.

So the person telling me the story said, “Well, I walk up 60 stairs to get in my front door. It’s what you do, and my view RULES.”

It put the 10 steps from my car to my front door in perspective. Much like the beach, people will do some crazy things to be where they love to be. Ski bums slave away at some crazy jobs. Patrollers wake up stupid early. Avi crews hike and blast so that we can enjoy our ski areas. Even bartenders put up with crazies all night just to ski all day.

I love all the ski bums we’ve met even if they aren’t roughing it, but you get that much more props if you are!

House With The Pots

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I told you I had to help deal with the MILs HOA a little bit. After all the drama and angry emails and mean board members giving her a hard time, her (my) hard work paid off and they aren’t putting in the double what it should cost roads.

But that made me nervous. We had a meeting with OUR HOA coming up. Then I remembered we live in the coolest part of the mountains. We had wine and pizza and met neighbors and heard stories from the old timers.

You don’t know about the pots if you haven’t seen them, but MIL bought us giant pots. Since it was our first time meeting a ton of these neighbors, they kept asking where we lived. We’d say the address. We’d describe the mansion across the street, then say “the not big one across from that”.

Finally someone said, “You’re the house with those giant pots out front aren’t you?”

And we are.

MH already laughs about the pots, texting me once that “Even if I have a bad day at work seeing those pots on the drive home cheers me up.”

One guy said “Must be your first winter here!”

But no, the pots are fiberglass and indestructible. I’d told MK to hide the pots in the garage, but after how everyone had a good laugh at our expense, the pots will be back out loud and proud to survive the winter.

Spelling And Typos

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We all, from time to time, make mistakes. I have a sweet Momm and Dadd that will read my writing and let me know if I make a mistake. And husband. And brother. And Snippy. And anyone else I might ask for feedback. Here, Facebook, Twitter, Ski Utah. Doesn’t matter. It’s important to me that I express myself clearly and part of that is not being ignorant of something I may have overlooked.

MK has put it simply that he wouldn’t hire someone who couldn’t be counted on to be consistent and professional, and writing well is part of that, even if it’s not the main focus of that person’s job. He tells me as an advertiser he’d quit giving a site money if it made mistakes too often (thank goodness he’s not an advertiser here!).

Maybe not everyone has time for someone to help proofread their work. But it is starting to drive me totally crazy that so many people who have an online presence are simply terrible at spelling. Grammar and writing style are one thing. Sometimes I’m trying to convey something funny or snarky and write it a certain way that may not work for you. That’s allowed. I won’t pick on you for that. But if your ‘career’, no matter how serious, has you posting online, I think you should spell or have someone proofread your work.

Does it matter to you if you get a work email that is barely legible? Not a quick text from a friend written more to convey an idea than tell a story, but something that is supposed to be professional. I’ve been seeing some blogs, Facebook business pages, and Twitter accounts lately that have typos that hurt my brain. What would you do? I’m tempted to find the equivalent of the online ‘red pen’ and go around correcting people. But I’m betting it won’t make me many friends…