The House the Scherbels Built

The Scherbel Chateau is officially under new management. The house sold yesterday so Steve and I spent a majority of Christmas break helping my parents pack things up and move out (sorry to all my friends for not visiting!). Before there was a house, it was "the lot" that we tended as a family. Building the house in 2004-ish was our biggest family project to date.

Favorite memories during the building phase include: endless fast food meals on the dusty floor; decorating a Christmas tree with used sandpaper rounds and work gloves; making stained glass windows with my mom to country songs about drinking; sanding, sanding, sanding; watching my sisters yell "we're fighting!" and wrestle over who got to pick the church music one rare working Sunday; seeing various boyfriends/girlfriends come help as a "test"; landscaping the backyard with my brother; and pulling my first and only all-nighter to help my dad finish some woodwork.

It's sad to see the house go, but we look forward to having adventures in the new place when we come to visit in the future.

Girls Gotta Match

Us girls are obsessed with matching in our family. This year, I made all five of us matching pajama bottoms (with pockets!) for the traditional Christmas morning photo shoot. We didn't get a picture with all of us in the PJ's...but we did get a cozy shot of us all in our Christmas Snuggies!

Impromptu Lighting Experiment

I love finding a captive photography "victim" to experiment on. I also love using tips from Napolean Dynamite e.g. "make a fist...slowly ease it up underneath your chin...."

Extreme Light Display

Santa got skillz.

Foolish Fudge

This week I had the brilliant idea to make holiday fudge. Nevermind that I've never made it before, but the Carnation fudge kit in the store made it look so easy. I was excited about the prospect of the delicious delivery it would make to friends and neighbors.

I made the Carnation recipe for "foolproof" fudge without a hitch.

That seemed way too easy... I like to think that I'm more advanced than Level: Fool. I rummaged through my Kitchenaid cookbooks (courtesy of husband, of course) until I came up with a trickier recipe (requiring a candy thermometer!). Chaos ensued:

Until I have a formal fudge lesson I am taking an indefinite break from this holiday confection.

Retro Red

It was a dreary day yesterday....

Perfect for going to see the Nutcracker performed by the Houston Ballet with Mark and Amy. And check out that lipstick! Retro Red. It screams "holiday cheer", doesn't it?

We were lucky enough to meet a giant rat in toe shoes, and Steve gave me a personal ballet performance I attempted to capture during intermission. Thank you, Houston Ballet, for the beautiful portrayal of this traditional holiday show. And thank you, Steve, for enduring all those tights.

Music Man

For those of you who don't know, my husband is an accomplished harmonicist. (Is that a word?) He specializes in Blues and Christmas songs. Incidentally, he has been practicing his Christmas repertoire with techno accompaniment, no less. Totally rad.

Snow Day

It snowed in Houston today! I wore a coat. And actually needed it.

flickr test

I'm trying to decide if I like using flickr to link photos to my blog...

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