Twas the Night Before Conkles Came

T’was the night ‘fore the Conkles would come to our house,
And Ruthie was fretting, like a dutiful spouse.

The place looked nicer than I’d ever seen
In the pretense that our home was always this clean.

The cats were all noisily busy at play,
In the smugness that Becky resented their stay.

And Ruthie was falling asleep, with a cough,
As I begged her to please turn her reading lamp off.

When in the other room we heard the phone ring,
And I wondered where Ruthie had NOW left that thing.

When out to the kitchen I made a quick dash,
And found she had knocked our lone phone in the trash.

The voice that I heard on the answering machine
Made us both doubly glad the apartment was clean.

When what to my wondering ears did I hear,
But my wife’s long-lost parents were finally here.


What a wonderful couple, so vibrant and young,
In excitement I found myself clicking my tongue.

As they pulled in the drive, and got out of their van,
We were glad they had upgraded from a sedan.


So into our home these two travelers flew,
My mother-in-law and her dear husband, too.

And then in a second, our memory drove
In the fact we’d forgotten to clean off the stove.

As I told Ruthie it was okay to calm down,
Up the porch steps the two Conkles came with a bound.

They were dressed in the clothes they’d been wearing for days,
And were sorting their way through the lost baggage craze.

A full bag of gadgets, he had in his pack,
which was full of new razors he’d have to take back.

We went out to breakfast, a quite pleasant treat
And made sure not to slip on the slick, icy street.

A nice, tasty breakfast, so pleasant and brown,
They had barely begun as I wolfed mine all down.

He went straight to his phone, without touching a bite
And continued to work on the lost luggage plight.

He continued to talk ‘til his breakfast was cold,
And he asked them to heat it again, so we’re told.

But through the whole process, after all of the gabbing,
They would get pick it up en route to Brain and Abby’s.

And away they soon drove, like the down on a thistle,
As my mother-in-law shouted love to her FSIL.

And they told us with passion, both deeply excited,
“Enjoy your next flight, but don’t fly with United.”


With love, from Chris
Christmas, 2008

Christmas and New Years

Christmas was a blast with my parents visiting us and the cats taking turns playing Christmas Ornaments in the tree. I took a lot of fun photos. Even though my parents still haven't gotten their luggage we had a great time together. I had cooked a LOT of food but we didn't eat nearly as much as I had planned so I have a TON of leftovers! We're going to a New Years Eve party so I'll have to bring the white chocolate pepermint pie I made that no one ate and the eggnog, otherwise Chris and I'll be eating all that sugar by ourselves. I'm a big believer in sharing the calories:-) Chris was sucking up to my mother big time, as always! They have a mutual admiration fest that just makes me SICK!!!! He even wrote them a poem, the Night Before Conkles Came!!! Spare me!

Dad was on the phone with United,the entire visit trying to track down their luggage which got stuck in Chicago, it made it to Cedar Rapids on Saturday and was supposed to be flown to Des Moines that afternoon, but disapeared into thin air again. The 800 number they were given was for India which never once got anything right regarding the location of their luggage. The website they were given to track their luggage didn't show anything either. We sent them on their way Sunday afternoon and they arived at Brian and Abby's that night. I had made a No Whining sign for Brian which he immediately put up so he can point to it whenever my sister starts to whine. I made Abby a Love, Honor, and Negotiate sign because she loves to get her own way. We had a wonderful Christmas but I'm glad it's over. Now it's time to undecorate and get the house back to normal again. Since I have so much work to do I'd better go do it.
Ta ta for now,
Ruthie

I just joined facebook!

Check out my new facebook site!!! Rachel talked me into joining, but of course, I can't find her on it! I did find a TON of ICA peoples on there though! It's so cool to see and hear from old friends again that I haven't heard from in years, my own fault of course for loosing touch. All those old photos sure bring back memories!

I have to get my elephant planter fixed, I brought it in to save my asparagus fern from the winter, but the cats are doing a good job destroying it for me, yesterday I was on the phone with my mom-I LOVE Vonage! Anyway, I heard this really loud crash, here they'd knocked over two of my cookies sheets that were drying and sent my planter which was on the shelf above the sink, onto the counter, they knocked a hole in the poor elephant's side. They love to nibble at the asparagus, yesterday I caught Gizmo actually SITTING ON TOP of the plant itself!!! Like I said, I thought I was saving it from being killed by the frost, but aparently I only made it worse! CATS!

I'm watching NCIS from last night and Agent Gibs put the photo of the NCIS agent that was killed on the wall of the bar with the photos of the fallen in the line of duty peoples, I KNEW IT! I knew Gibs couldn't be that dumb! I knew he suspected Agent Lee!! As you can tell, I'm a passionate fan! :-) Chris hates watching the news with me because I'm always talking back to the TV, a Conkle woman trait I'm afraid, all my sisters and my mother and I, we're all very vocal and opnionated!!! My new favorite this season is the Mentalist, the main character looks really familiar but I don't remember where I've seen him before, oh well, it'll come to me! Well, I've avoided my to do list long enough! I'd better actually do something productive rather than just play on the computer all day.

Safety Issues

Remember my recent comments about safety? You might be amused by this.
Last night as we were laying down for the night, Ruthie reached over and pulled a pair of scissors from the bed and put them on her nightstand. She had been working on an embroidery project. Very comforting to find a sharp object in bed when I am settling in for the night.
Tonight when I got home, they were back, as well as another pair on my seat at the table. Of course I can't let her get by without a few comments, you know.
Do any of you have similar safety issues?

Chris

Haunted Houses and Scary Movies

Our neighbor puts out a deliciously creepy haunted house display in his yard each year which Chris loves to go look at. Since I'm not a huge fan of horror/scary movies, (he claims I got scared watching Finding Nemo which I claim was mostly for show since we were engaged at that point and I just wanted to cuddle, I mean the part with the sharks was a little scary, but once I learned they weren't going to eat them I was ok). I finally got up the nerve to watch Psycho with him the other day, it wasn't too bad, but I draw the line at his Steven King movies. Last year he induced me to watch Nosferatu, an old black and white silent movie about Dracula, I LOVED it! I died laughing it was so funny! My favorite part was when Nosferatu is coming after the girl with the hands up to his chest trying to look scary but just looking ridiculous, I love to pretend with Chris holding my hands up like claws and hissing at him! Anyway, we went down today to look at the neighbor's yard one last time before he starts taking it down this weekend, I got some cool pictures, maybe tonight I can get some more photos when it's all lit up. I'll put them in when I get them off the camera.

Anniversaries and Injuries

I am considering buying a football helmet for Ruthie to wear while working at home. In the past few weeks, I have seen her bash herself over and over again. We have seen in our marriage:
1. Ruthie sitting at the computer and getting a serious splinter in her foot.
2. Ruthie drop one of her painted boards just under her eye. Keep in mind many of these boards are used in buildings such as barns.
3 Ruthie hit herself in the face with a pan while drying dishes.

Of course, the occasional headbutt to me is not a concern, as she may be just trying to give me a kiss, but her safety is a concern to me.
We had a nice anniversary, although I don't know what it is with all the emphasis on our age. (Thanks especially to Matt and Brian for the Old Farts and AARP membership comments.)

We recieved a nice set of penguin stocking holders from my mother, to match the penguin stockings Ruthie is embroidering. I gave her a set of candle holders. She made a nice cake for me and a delicious diner.

I gave her her card which she appreciated, but then she confessed that she had forgotten to give me my cards and wasn't quite sure where she'd put them, I told her that was ok, she could save money and just give them to me next year. She didn't seem to appreciate the genious of my thrifty comment.

Well, that's my news for now,

Chris

P.S. She just head butted my ear as I finished this. Another attempt at a kiss.

Cakes and Anniversaries

Well, I'm still fighting the cold that lasted 5 days for Chris, I'm on my fourth week! Today is our fourth anniversary, for Chris' birthday in May I tried to make a Red Velvet cake for him, well, after three unsuccessful attempts, I gave up. Today I'm giving it another shot. I measured the cake pans with a tape measure and it said they were 9 inches wide, so I put in the cake batter, it filled them up rather full, but I didn't think anything of it until I started to smell something burning. Here the cake batter had leaked over and was burning on the bottom of the oven. Of course that's better than the first time I made the cake, that time I had forgotten to add in the eggs, the cake batter exploded all over the oven! I had to throw that one out and started over again, this time I forgot to add in the vinegar and baking soda combo and so the cake was flat and burned. By the third time I was almost out of ingredients and frustrated and the kitchen was a mess, so when that attempt didn't turn out, I gave in and made him a cake from a box! Next time I make this I'll have to try 3 cake pans instead of two. That is if I decide to make this very irritating cake again! Every time I make it something goes wrong, that and it takes 2 oz of red food coloring, I used every bottle I had in the house, I didn't know I had so much food coloring until today! Of course now I'll just have to replace all my red food coloring for the next time I make this stupid cake and for Christmas cookies of course. Chris said that to save money this year we should just not do a whole lot for our anniversary, so then after I already said I'd just make him a special meal for his present he asks me if I've seen the present he got me!!!!! So, that's why the cake. Well, the cake is done baking and I'm delicately trying to get it out of the pans without totally destroying it. The frosting required some "tweaking" The milk and the flour were supposed to cook until thickened, but apparently I didn't let it thicken enough so the frosting was runny so I went through my corn starch trying to thicken it up once I added it to the butter and sugar I had creamed. After adding a combo of flour and powdered sugar I finally got it thick enough. Now if only the cake will come out of the pans nicely....! Well, the frosting is runny, the cake is misshapen, but hey it tastes great, so we'll just call it modern art.
Chris came home last night with a present from his mother, he won't even let me peek until he come home from work today! It's killing me not to know! He loves to do this to me, last year he wrapped this HUGE package and left it up on top of the tv cabinet for weeks, tormenting me!