Canasta

Matthias and I love to play Canasta together. It's originally a four-player game, but with a couple of changes we often play the two-player version with the 2-card draw and needing 2 canastas to go out. We both get so into the game that the night usually ends with someone being a little grumpy, and sometimes cards even get thrown. Why we love it so much, I don't know.

We played it twice last week.

On Monday night I completely clobbered Matthias. My hands were perfect and his just weren't. I don't think he was ever able to pick up the discard pile, and I picked it up to my great advantage many times. As we were nearing the end of our third round, Matthias finally was able to pick up the discard pile. I didn't mind so much because the game was still very much in my favor (if it's not in my favor there is a deep thunk that occurs in my chest and I start asking him if he is going to go out every time he lays down cards). After his turn he discarded an 8. I had five eights in my hand (seven makes a Canasta), so I looked between the 8 and my hand trying to decide if it was worth it or if I should NOT pick it up to trick him into discarding another 8 should he get it. I don't think it had been more than 5 seconds when he decided to CHANGE HIS MIND and pull that 8 and put down a stop card. I almost started crying.

***Flashback***
I was playing Phase 10 with my friend Amanda and her brother Derek. It was my turn after Derek and he discarded the card I needed and as my hand was down to pick it up he slapped it and decided to change his mind. I was 12 and had some sort of emotional breakdown.

Yes, when Matthias pulled that 8 up I acted just like a hurt 12 year old. However, I decided to draw my cards before he decided to give me that 8 back, and decided to stick to my decision and make sure that he knew it. In pity to me acting like a 12-year-old, he discarded the 8 the next turn, and I think I won that round 2 turns later, and it was so bad that he didn't even want to count points. We were both emotionally fragile, couldn't figure out why, and it all ended in a lot of laughter. However, we still didn't count points.

The next night after Oliver went down, Matthias challenged me to a rematch. I think we only played one round because we kept getting interrupted by Oliver and phone calls. However, it was the strangest round ever. We were both able to lay down our two Canastas, but neither of us could go out! Literally! Matthias drew the last of the cards, and ended up discarding a card I could use (although I think I already had a Canasta of queens), so I picked up the discard pile, played and then discarded a stop. He drew the stop and melded it with the others in his hand to "go out", even though you technically aren't allowed to draw a stop. It was such a strange round, and one that we thought should go down on the record.

New Family Member!

So on Saturday November 7 we welcomed a new member into our family. We'll call him Rudolpho.

Matthias up and decided one day that he wanted us to have a piano so that Oliver could grow up with music in the house (I guess my trick of iTunes on shuffle wasn't doing it for him). After looking at all of the pianos on Craigslist he went for one that they were willing to deliver, even if it wasn't one of the free antique ones listed. I got home from the JCPenny sale to find that he had cleaned the house, vacuumed the floors, and he was even thinking about rearranging the house. I started to get suspicious, and soon he was walking outside to answer his phone, and had to rush out the door to talk to our neighbor Bob. I finally got it out of him what he was up to and was super excited! Here it is in all of its camera-flash glory:

Not the best picture, but you can tell by the assortment of music atop it that we are enjoying the piano very much. I've been pulling out all of my old books and pieces, and Matthias has even been learning and practicing a couple of Hymns. The tuner said that there is mouse damage (ew!) but that after it's second tuning it should hold a tune just like a well-cared for piano. We were a little unsure about it until it was tuned and now it's amazing! He also said it's a vintage 70's student piano (whatever that means...).

Regardless, any piano is better than no piano.

And I'm sure glad Matthias is good at practicing, because I'm sure not! I just like to play for fun, and play what I feel like it. Lots of sight-reading, very little practicing. I have an amazing husband!

Need a smile?

October 24, 2009

November 2, 2009

November 10, 2009



Happy 3 Months Oliver!

Halloween!

This is the first year that we've been married that we haven't dressed up in tinfoil on Halloween.  Sad day!  We used to dress up as 'Boo'ritos to get free burritos from Chipotle.  There is supposedly a Chipotle in Boston, but we had better things to do than drive 2 hours round trip for "free" burritos.

We had a ton of fun anyway though.  As I was feeling Oliver in the morning Matthias all of the sudden ran into the room, and the next thing I knew he came out dressed like this:

The coat, beard cover and hair cover are typical clean room attire that he brought home from work.  Usually he just throws them away at the end of the day, but he thought it would make a great costume with magic marker blood, my shop glasses, and his old marching band gloves.  The trick-or-treaters loved it!

I stole his work-inspired idea and decided to put on my mine-site attire.

Complete with hard hat, reflective vest, safety glasses, steel-toe boots (not shown in picture), and I added my really big wrench just for the fun of it.  I had to buy that wrench about a month after we got engaged, when I lost my ring down the sink as I was trying to rinse the lotion off of it.

The weather was amazing!  People kept telling us that Halloween is NEVER this nice, but it was in the 60s, with gorgeous fall colors and an overcast sky that made it feel how Halloween is supposed to feel.  We took some family pictures outside to capture the beautiful day!

I love fall!

That night we invited some friends to come trick-or-treat at our house and it was fun to see all of their kiddos all dressed up for the night.  They were only able to hang out for a few minutes, but it was really fun!

Trick-or-treating was advertised at our apartments, so we thought for sure that tons of people would be passing out candy, and tons of kids would be knocking on our door.  The fat kid from upstairs (as we so lovingly call him...) got 2 grocery sacks full of candy by the time he got to us, and was halfway through a 3rd.   We only got about 20 trick-or-treaters, so maybe everyone was just being generous.

After all of the trick-or-treating was done, we went and hung out with some other friends from the ward whom we have been wanting to visit for awhile.  Their 2nd son is about a month older than Oliver, so they had a fun time romping around on the floor together (notice Oliver's great neck skills).

When the babies were down, the adults played Canasta late into the night while drinking root beer floats and eating lots of candy.  It was a great Halloween!

Oh, and I don't know if anyone watches Fox & Friends in the morning on Fox News, but Matthias posted Oliver's picture on their site and he made his tv debut on national television.  The anchors (or hosts...it's not much of a news show) even recognized him as the Very Hungry Caterpillar (aka the caterpillar that eats everything and gets a tummy ache).  I went back to bed after Oliver's first feeding, and while I was sleeping Matthias sent in the picture.  When I woke up again about an hour after he sent it in, he told me that they had even mentioned the great submissions they had received, including a caterpillar, a skunk...  I told him to turn the tv back on to see if they were going to show it.  Right after we turned on the tv, the commercial break was finishing and we saw our little boy in all of his caterpillar glory right on our tv screen!