i have this (somewhat) irrational fear that i am on some obscure return list, whereupon the next time i return something to a store, i will be denied and chased out.

see, i am a chronic returner.

now, let me clarify in saying that i do not return things that i have worn out and about with the sole purpose of returning it after i've worn it.  i do, however, return things that i have worn for 2 hours and immediately know that i don't want.

i don't know when this started.  however, there was definitely a turning point.  i think it was in seattle.

it actually solves a few problems:
a) i like to shop
b) i like to save money
c) i am indecisive
d) i have buyers remorse

so see, this way i can shop to my hearts content, stress-free that i did not have to make the ultimate final decision in the store, go home, think about it, look at things in a different light and with all of my other belongings, and then, once the remorse sets in, i can return the items that i really don't need/want, and save money.

but i feel a little guilty about it.  but should i?

thus, mass confession.

what are our collective thoughts about store returns (usually with tags on, but not always doable, but always with the receipt and within 30 days)?

overheard on the radio last night:

"it is scientifically impossible for giraffes to be able to walk.

good thing giraffes don't read scientific journals."

i am still not entirely sure why, but i really like that.

  it was time once again, for the

4th Annual Triplett Gingerbread
House/Boat/Condo/Trailer Decorating Extravaganza.

although our numbers were smaller this year, we were a mighty bunch.

the front of my house.  i believe this will go on the market shortly. 
notice the strong architectural touches, like the pirouette roman columns.

my brother and addison, 9 months, VERY serious about gingerbread real estate.  he is a broker, after all.

the tools of the gingerbread house decorating trade.  also known as "the goods".

sarah and asia.

christopher, making the gingerrockstar...

ginger van halen.  bitchin.

the gingerbread house of doom.  rachel, 6, kept whispering "BEWARE!  it's the gingerbread dungeon of doom!"

yes, that is a decapitated ginger man underneath the moat.

rachel and charlie (or as rachel pronounces it "chawww-lee") hard at work on their roof.

what happens when you make 6 year olds become building contractors.

a bomb hit the building.  the bomb's name was charlie.

the lovely julie next to her dream house.

this was the church.  you can tell from the gumdrop cross.  however, it is an inter-faith chapel, as there is also a marshmallow star of david on the back.  shalom.

sarah's shingle art.

side view of my completed house, although you can't quite see the palm tree made out of sour candy, or the hanging gum drop lights.

merry christmas.

Fen • der • berg (fĕn'dər'bûrg') n.

Large chunks of ice and/or slush that get stuck behind a vehicle's tire.

"you've grown so much over the time i've known you."

see, it seems like a compliment, but really, it's the angel of death. 

okay, not the angel of death, but it's a judgement wrapped up in some shoddy faux-compliment looking wrapping paper. 

generosity of spirit.

this is the phrase stuck in my head right not.  and i don't say this next part without knowing, wholeheartedly, that it applies to me.  it's amazing to me how this sense of isolation, or selfishness, or lack of just doing pervades the space around me.

i tend to not be a meticulous person about most things.  my car is clean, but there is always stuff in the backseat.  my house is picked up, but my computer along with a cup sits on the coffee table.  my kitchen is clean, but there are some dishes on the counter.  my office is organized, but every pen is not in the jar.  you get the idea.

what amazes me is how people decide that they will just do what they are going to do, without regard to how it effects other people.  sometimes, going out of there way to not help people.

i am a chief battler of selfishness.  i am not only selfish in one way, no, i celebrate diversity in my selfishness and have it spread to many areas of my life.  however.  my attempt is a generosity of spirit.

a generous spirit does not make everyone around them provide answers for them.  a generous spirit gives time and attention to those who come into their office every day.  a generous spirit takes care of cleaning, tasks, dishes, whathaveyou that aren't theirs, not because of any reason except that they can.  and many of these tasks are EASY.  you are not giving money, you are not even spending more than a few extra seconds or attention.  but, let's not aim to have generosity of spirit - because it's all a big scorecard, anyway, right?  let's be isolationists, are at best, switzerland: quiet, dont get in anyone's way, but sure to completely take care of our lives and ourselves first all the time.

because that always serves relationships well, right?

particulaly - let's do this when the tasks are remarkably EASY.  i mean, hard tasks that put us out when we get no immediate return are out of the question.  but, surely nobody will blame us for not cleaning up a dish left by a coworker,or running an errand for your mother - after all, they should really be doing this themselves, right?  we should teach them lessons!  how dare they make us take that extra 10 seconds to be helpful, because if we don't teach them then we will be WALKED ALL OVER, and they will never learn!

good thing our stingy spirit is looking out for us, because otherwise we'd be in serious trouble.  that grinchiness will surely be a great fence for making sure that our pristine lives with our imaculate routines never topple off of that fortress we're building.

generosity of spirit. 

maybe this makes no sense to you, or maybe it does.  either way, this is what's been brimming over for me lately, and now that i am done with what was not my most ideal school semester, it had to burrow out.

it would be remarkably difficult to be perfect at this.  good thing perfection is not attainable, so our efforts can be put towards just intentionally being more generous with whatever it is we have.  not in some huge philanthropic-fund-a-foundation-sell-shirts-rebuild-new-orleans kind of way...but perhaps just not having such a myopic view of how we can best take care of ourselves and our 1 feet of space around us with a big helping of indifference to everything else.

and now, i'm going to finish my highly nutritious dinner of chips and salsa, water lord marbury (our tree) because i am his sole source of beverages, and play some more eight one.

bullets in church.

it's absolutely confounding to me.

here are the details:  i am fine, and was indeed at home in pajamas finishing my finals and playing eight1 with the boy.  although new life is my home church, i am not there every sunday as i have been starting to go to a different church in the area.  however, many of my friends, coworkers and boss go there, and all have been accounted for.  some had left already, some were there when it happened - all are pretty shaken up.  my mom's friend was one of the injured ones.

my mom works for the hospital where the victims were taken, and the story is that it was a father, 18 year old and 15 year old children who were shot, along with the 20 year old gunman, and the 18 year old died at the scene, and the 15 year old died last night at the hospital.  but that is just rumor as of now.

i'm sure by the time this is read, you will have lots more information than this - but they think it is related to the shooting at the YWAM base in denver, and are currently treating it as a homicide investigation.  the church is completely closed and roped off.

new life is not only the church i grew up in, but also one of our clients at work as well...so this is big. 

bullets in church, bullets in schools...i really sometimes just can't wrap my mind around it.  thanks for all the thoughts and prayers, truly.

i am officially obsessed.   hypothetically, amidst taking my logic final, the boy and i spent collectively about 5 hours playing this.  in one sitting.  in pajamas. 

if you at all are feeling grinchy this christmas, you can find your grinch name here:

http://www.yourgeekfriend.com/GrinchName/GrinchName.php

otherwise, you can figure out what the grinch name is for those who are grinchy around you.  i am not grinchy, but right now, knee deep in finals, i have some grinchiness coming out of me.

yours cordially and with multiple parts of speech,

crabbygrinch crustyfoot