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thedaveandkimmershow · 10 months

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It was a week, of course. It was definitely a week. And how could it not be with Linzy's birthday and Thanksgiving going back to back?

So, on Tuesday of the week, the day before Linzy's birthday, Kimmer's painting, crafting, collaging, and arranging with stickers and photographs, assembling Linzy's birthday card, a pretty big construction, maybe four times the size of a normal birthday card. When she's done, she hands the card over to me and we talk about where text should go on each page. After that, I take it to my office and settle into the couch with my notebook in hand and the card in front of me on the storage ottoman. I start drafting a message that'll fit into the spaces across the pages.

Eventually I show my final draft to Kimmer and we're good to go.

The next morning we get up early and I begin writing into the actual card, modifying what I'm writing to fit the twists and turns of the spaces, modifying my writing as I gain one or two better ideas.

In the meantime, Kimmer's making one gigantic envelope from a book cover that used to belong to one of Linzy's text books in highschool.

Works and fits perfectly. 😊

Then Kimmer's off to the kitchen to make frosted lemon cupcakes we'll take to Linzy's place a little later.

And yes. I get to lick the beaters. 😁

By 10am we've picked Linzy up at her place, parked along the waterfront, and are walking into the Edgewater Inn to their restaurant, 67.

We're here for a birthday breakfast!

We have a great time, by the way. Better than we expected because we expected the place to be packed. Not sure why. Of course this was just a normal workday, albeit the day before Thanksgiving, so there weren't that many people on hand for breakfast and we got a table right next to the window overlooking Elliot Bay and, for some reason, an entire platoon of ducks along with a coupla monster seagulls loitering on a nearby ledge.

We brought Linzy's mega birthday card along so she could experience it at the table as we waited for our breakfasts to arrive. Since the text I wrote into the card in some places curves and turns around some of the shapes Kimmer crafted into the card, it was funny to watch Linzy read it as she rotated the card this way 'n that.

It's an annoyingly exhausting experience that's much more fun to drop on someone else than it is to be the drop-ee.

🤣🤣🤣

Okay so Kimmer's in a (believe it or not) online class she's gotta attend from noon to one for her doctorate studies. So we head back to Linzy's place where Kimmer sets up in the kitchen while Linzy 'n I hang at Linzy's workstation in the living room, sharing music videos and movie trailers with each other.

When Kimmer's done, it's time for Linzy to open our birthday gift to her that she's been wanting for quite some time. A particular microphone that seems to looooooove Linzy's voice. She used one at Chateau St. Michelle maybe a year ago at a Little Lies gig.

Makes a huge difference.

Then we're off to the Late Night Vintage Market on Capital Hill but, since it's barely two in the afternoon, it's not open yet.

Of course. 🤨

So we stop a few doors down to browse a sort of novelty shop and then head off to Fremont to indulge the Fremont Vintage Mall.

Fremont Vintage Mall, by the way, is a dangerous place to visit. I can't think of a reason to go there... but once there I can think of plenty of reasons to buy a lot of what's there.

Nothing practical, of course. Nothing in the Need category. Totally everything in the Want category.

At one point, Linzy's walking around with a bunch of stuff including a mini poster featuring the lyrics from one of Taylor Swift's songs. Really great design. Between the text and the illustration it was definitely quite something to behold.

With, of course, a price tag to match.

Eventually, all that walking around with seriously cool product did the trick. Which is to help avoid making impulse buys. So everything went back from whence they came.

☹️

Now we've got Starbucks on the brain so we drive over to that one along South Lake Union where we hang for half an hour.

Four thirty, we're back at Linzy's place for those frosted lemon cupcakes Kimmer made.

Super tasty!

Then we settle into the couch for the final two episodes of Daisy Jones & the Six, a series we've been watching as a family across most of the year.

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By six-thirty it's hugs and kisses all around as we leave and Linzy gets ready for friends coming over for her birthday Late Night. 🥳

On our way home, now, our focus turns to Thanksgiving so we stop in at Trader Joe's and Grocery Outlet for our next-to-final round of Thanksgiving dinner shopping.

Wait. Next to final?

Yup. Because grocery stores are open for a bit on Thanksgiving Day.

So first thing Thanksgiving morning we're cleaning the house. Vacuuming. Wiping surfaces clean. Cleaning mirrors. Putting stuff away. Dishes. Empty and load the dishwasher. And so on.

The day's list also includes setting up our artificial Christmas tree in the living room.

Except.

We have two artificial Christmas trees. One that's been at the house for years. The other that we bought for our apartment when we lived on Capital Hill. Now, the one we bought for our apartment is the narrower of the two and Kimmer wanted me to set up that narrow one in the living room.

Hmmmmm.

Thing is that both trees were disassembled, fit into large cardboard boxes, and stored in the garage. Under that condition, they seemed identical to me in their boxes so I made my best guess, pulled one into the living room, set it up and...

Yup.

This was not the narrow one.

So I took it down, put it away, set the other one up.

BAM. Perfect.

Then, because all the lights strung into it were dead, I pulled them off in preparation for new lights I'll pick up by 'n by.

Okay so "by'n'by" ends up being 2 in the afternoon, scooting through the front doors of the local WinCo in search of the remaining needs for the day's Thanksgiving dinner cooking. Combined with an unsuccessful hunt for Christmas tree lights. 😕

Quarter passed four (after dropping Thanksgiving groceries home and doing a quick turnaround) I'm picking up Linzy at Northgate, dropping us both back at the house by quarter to five, and welcoming our dear friends and their two little ones a touch after five.

In the meantime, Kimmer's got the Challah rolls, the fruit salad, and the crock pot potato slices done and ready to go. Our friends brought the Thanksgiving ham, the mini-marshmallow-topped whipped yams, and a couple ciders. Of course we've also got a gaggle of various wines, one or two of which are immediately mixed into an improvised evening's drink special.

Kimmer heads off to get herself ready after a full day of Thanksgiving prep, I do a thing with clean and dirty dishes, and Linzy takes to setting the dinner table, whilst our friends drape our Christmas tree in Dollar Tree fall leaves 'cause I never could find the lights.

Later, Linzy rifles through the sheet music in our piano bench and settles down with some Twinkle Twinkle Little Star variations by Mozart that start out simple as can be while quickly working themselves into a wicked complexity of piano composition.

After a little of that, Linzy asks for my Charlie Brown book that has the sheet music to Christmas Time Is Here printed inside. She gets right to work feeling out that Christmastime vibe on the keys.

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Over in our family room, a pair of little ones have taken to our exercise equipment, one just barely big enough to work the pedals of his machine, the other content to balance atop hers simply to watch and enjoy the experience.

In the oven, the ham and yam dishes are warmed up. Now we're taking a second pass at the yam dish, using the oven's broil setting for a few minutes to give those mini marshmallows atop the dish a golden brown sheen plus an extra lovely taste.

The kids also open our toy box in the family room. The "toy box" is actually a leather storage ottoman. Inside they find squirt guns they'll play with later. They also find plastic toy plates and utensils along with various plastic foods. So they work together "cooking" different things in our microwave (unplugged) and our toaster oven (also unplugged).

Later that evening I find a tray of four pieces of plastic toast in that toaster oven. All that was missing was some melted plastic butter. 😉

Okay so now we're saying a Thanksgiving prayer then dining buffet style, simply enjoying the meal, the company, the friendship, the fellowship, and the laughs.

After dinner it's a belated birthday present for the older brother. Kimmer found (at GoodWill, I think) an FAO Schwarz Premium 24-Piece Kids Spiral Art Set. It comes in a wooden case with a handle. It pretty much looks like a briefcase when carried that way.

The spiral art set's an immediate, unequivocal hit. It thoroughly engaged the young sir who couldn't seem to get enough. He started cranking out spiral art that very moment. 😊

Later, the kids remember the water guns they discovered earlier and quickly determine they'd like to play with them outside. So they're quickly bundled for the cold, night air, I fill up their water guns and lead them outside while everyone else settles down for relaxing adult conversation.

Now, I don't have a squirt gun. My job is to supervise and make sure everyone stays safe. Is safe.

Immediately they point their water guns to the sky and trigger streams and streams of water, referring to those streams as "fireworks". Next, they direct those streams of water at our red metal wagon from close up, referring to that activity as "cleaning". Eventually, they think to squirt each other... with time-outs called whenever it was time for me to refill their plastic weaponry.

It didn't take much longer for them to figure out they could both shoot me without any possibility of getting a face full'a water in return.

So they did that a bunch.

An activity they referred to as "FUN!!!!!"

After a while, the kids returned their water guns to our sink and got some help taking their coats and scarves and hats off.

Linzy played with them once they settled back into being indoors. Showed them funny videos and used one of her photo and video apps to accessorize their faces with hats and mustaches and anything else they could think of, along with filtering their voices in seriously funny ways.

For a break, Linzy showed Noah a coupla chords on his new ukulele. It was seriously sweet to watch them because Linzy's a music teacher on the side at a private music school. And while she does have adult, young adult, and teen students, she also has children down to five years of age. ☺️

And she.

Is wonderful with them.

❤️❤️❤️

Now, Kimmer's in a doctoral program where, it turns out, there is no rest for doctoral students. So yeah. Kimmer's got more studying to do even on Thanksgiving. She's enjoying the evening so much, though, that it's not 'til after 830 that we all say our goodbyes, at which point a little voice was heard calling out from our front yard

"Byee!!! I hope we come back and do this again for Christmas!!"

So.

Christmas Day plans are already under way.

Apparently.

🤔🤔🤔

9pm Linzy 'n I are heading down the freeway to drop Linzy at her place and grab her gear for the next night's gig 'cause I'm gonna pick her up near the Northgate Light Rail station earlier that day.

So the next night we're at Tsillan Cellars in Woodinville for a two-hour set that's very much appreciated over lovely wines and wonderfully delicious appetizers.

There's even a huge Christmas tree set up a few feet away next to her.

Great crowd, by the way. They applauded after every song and filled her tip jar when the performance was over.

Later that night, once Linzy's home and now I'm home, Kimmer 'n I settle in for our first Christmas movie of the season: The Man Who Invented Christmas.

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It's a classic for us and it gets that whole Dickens Christmas vibe a'rollin.

So yeah.

That's the latest on our holidays so far.

☺️😁🤔🥳🤣🤨🤯☺️❤️

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