It seems like just the other day my sister in law was asking me if I was going to update my blog anytime soon. I told her that I really wanted to get one done for the upcoming holiday, especially since I had already missed the previous one. The problem is: the holiday I was referring to was Thanksgiving. How the time flies!
A lot has happened since I last updated this blog. We've had two major holidays, elected the first African-American president, and my oldest brother (Big Nutz) and his wife (Lady Nutz) just gave birth to a bouncing baby boy (Little Nutz.) The whole Nutz clan has been very excited for this occasion, and I'm very happy to report that everything went great. Little Nutz is now home with his parents and big sister (a loveable ball of energy I'm choosing to call Lotta Nutz.)
I'm currently writing this on the evening of Dec 23, and I'm anxiously anticipating tomorrow, which is possibly my favorite day of the year. I have loved Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember. Every year we go to my Grandparents (on my mothers side, so they are not Nutz I'm afraid,) and enjoy an evening of dinner and merryment with all the cousins.
Growing up there was the adults table in the dining room, while us kids were reserved a smaller table in the kitchen. My older brothers would share stories with the older cousins about their high jinks during the course of the year, which usually resulting in the younger cousins lauging until our sides hurt. Every year we would use red and green plastic cups that my grandparents had bought, and at the end of the meal they would wash the cups and put them back into the cupboard until the next Christmas.
After dinner, the adults would go to the family room and visit while us kids would go downstairs into the basement to play pool. Grandpa and Grandma would always tell us not to look around down there, as they would have the family Christmas presents down there all around the room. They were already wrapped, put in boxes separated by family, and covered with sheets, but it was still fun to pretend that we didn't see them.
Pool was always interesting at their house. The ceilings are short and there's cabinets that are within close proximity to the table, so much that you would usually have to open the doors to aim at the ball from that angle (or use the short stick affectionately referred to as "stumpy.") My grandparents basement has older carpet in it that conducts static electrticity at an alarming rate. I'm convinced that you could power a small city just by walking around in that room. We soon discoverd that the metal pool cues we played with made great lightning rods, and before too long the game would take a shocking turn.
Before too long, the adults would call us kids to come upstairs so that we could do the gift exchange. We'd all try to race out of the basement first, knowing that the last person up would have to shut off the lights, usually getting an arc of electricity that would knock a moose off it's feet. Upstairs we would exchange our gifts, then Grandpa would let talk for a few minutes to tell the family how greatful they were for us. Visiting would commence for a little longer, and then we would get ready to leave for the night.
As we were going home, my parents would drive through the neighborhood to see all the Christmas lights that the neighbors had put up. Grandpas always raved about a couple of his neighbors that put on an impressive display, usually the result of one-upsmanship, and we were the beneficiaries. Then we would drive home, with my parents encouraging us to look out the window for Santa. I would swear that I could see Rudolphs nose as we were driving, but I know now that I was seeing a reflection.
When we got home, my parents made us wait at the landing while my Dad poked his head over the railing to make sure that Santa hadn't come yet. When it was safe, we would go to bed and try to fall asleep, anticipating the following morning.
Things have changed a little over the years. We still go to my grandparents house for Christmas Eve, but now that the kids are mostly married (and a few even have kids of their own) the adults table has grown. Now we have two large tables and all of is visit together. The games of pool have all but disappeared, though the table is still there. Now when we go downstairs, we don't close our eyes and try not to look at the presents, but rather we bring the boxes up for my grandpa, who is now in his ninties. Perhaps the most noticable change though, is that my Grandma isn't there anymore. She passed away a couple of years ago, but there still is a part of her when we gather together for the holidays.
I still love to drive through "the meadow" to look at the Christmas lights after we're done, a tradition that my lovely wife has enjoyed as well.
When I was younger, I always looked forward to the next morning. Christmas morning meant that Santa had come, and we would be leaping into a mound of presents; but now that I'm older, I realize that I look more forward to the night before. In the end, I think that memories are the real treasure, but once Mrs. Nutz and I start raising children of our own, we'll be able to start new traditions and build new memories.
We have received one Christmas present already. My other brother and his wife gave us an 8 foot tall inflatable Mickey Mouse which now graces our yard every night. Unfortunately I've never owned an inflatable rodent, and didn't realize that I had to tie him down in several places to make his stand up properly, so each night he inflates at a tilt until I get home and straighten him out.
I'll get it right for next year though.
Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
It was a Dark and Scary Night...
The other night, Mrs Nutz and I jumped at a chance to save some money doing some of our mandatory shopping. My Mother-in-law is a bargain shopper, and a pretty darn good one at that. Since this is the first time I've mentioned my in-laws, I would like to say that there are MANY horror stories out there about Mother-in-laws; however my wife and I were both fortunate to marry into great families. Anyway, mine is a bargain shopping whiz, and she likes to make sure that we are made aware of the deals. She informed us that our local Dan's Grocery Store was going to be having a moonlight madness sale. Basically from 8 PM to 11 PM they would have bargains on potatoes, steaks, and a few other things, plus a discount at the register. She invited us to go shopping with her, even though this store was a little out of the way for us. Considering that we just got paid, and it was time to go grocery shopping anyway, we accepted her invitation.
Somewhere back in the deep recesses of my mind, I knew that it wasn't a good idea; but I just shrugged it off. I worked in retail during the holiday season for several years, and I have very vivid memories of how crazy things were, but that was always from an employee's perspective. This was my first real experience at seeing how crazy things were from the shoppers perspective, and shoppers are INSANE!!!
The night started off for us at 7:30, when we arrived at the store and started shopping for the bargains. A rational person would think that the managers of the store would realize that this advertised sale was coming, and would try to have all the items in stock. Not this manager. One of the sale items that we were looking forward to was a 5 lb sack of potatoes for $1, and we were fortunate to get there just as the clerk was bringing them out... all 12 bags of them. I felt sorry for the clerk, it was like bringing a pizza into a weight-watchers convention. We got ours and ran before we could attract attention.
Our next shock came when we got to the Coke 2-liters. They had them stacked in plastic crates, and this one idiot was literally dumping them into his cart. At this point, I am NOT exaggerating. He was picking up an entire crate, holding them over his cart, and then dumping them. His cart was overflowing with bottles and he still kept going. As we were trying to grab a bottle or two before he could get to them, a couple of them fell to the ground and almost hit Mrs. Nutz. She gave him a nasty glare, which seemed to confuse him. I was just anxious to get away from him before one of those bottles exploded all over.
Another sale item was New York steaks for $2 per lb. My Mother-in-Law was waiting with the rest of the crowd to grab some, and the store was limiting them to 3 packages per customer. She was grabbing them off the shelf, and people were literally trying to grab them out of her hands.
By about 8:15, we'd had our fill of the whole experience, so we waited in the check-out lane that stretched all the way back to Hawaii, and told ourselves that we would never EVER again bargain shop like this. It made me shudder to think of what stores are like the day after Thanksgiving. I know that the economy sucks right now, but I'll spend the extra $30 we saved if that means that we can go grocery shopping without wearing safety gear.
Somewhere back in the deep recesses of my mind, I knew that it wasn't a good idea; but I just shrugged it off. I worked in retail during the holiday season for several years, and I have very vivid memories of how crazy things were, but that was always from an employee's perspective. This was my first real experience at seeing how crazy things were from the shoppers perspective, and shoppers are INSANE!!!
The night started off for us at 7:30, when we arrived at the store and started shopping for the bargains. A rational person would think that the managers of the store would realize that this advertised sale was coming, and would try to have all the items in stock. Not this manager. One of the sale items that we were looking forward to was a 5 lb sack of potatoes for $1, and we were fortunate to get there just as the clerk was bringing them out... all 12 bags of them. I felt sorry for the clerk, it was like bringing a pizza into a weight-watchers convention. We got ours and ran before we could attract attention.
Our next shock came when we got to the Coke 2-liters. They had them stacked in plastic crates, and this one idiot was literally dumping them into his cart. At this point, I am NOT exaggerating. He was picking up an entire crate, holding them over his cart, and then dumping them. His cart was overflowing with bottles and he still kept going. As we were trying to grab a bottle or two before he could get to them, a couple of them fell to the ground and almost hit Mrs. Nutz. She gave him a nasty glare, which seemed to confuse him. I was just anxious to get away from him before one of those bottles exploded all over.
Another sale item was New York steaks for $2 per lb. My Mother-in-Law was waiting with the rest of the crowd to grab some, and the store was limiting them to 3 packages per customer. She was grabbing them off the shelf, and people were literally trying to grab them out of her hands.
By about 8:15, we'd had our fill of the whole experience, so we waited in the check-out lane that stretched all the way back to Hawaii, and told ourselves that we would never EVER again bargain shop like this. It made me shudder to think of what stores are like the day after Thanksgiving. I know that the economy sucks right now, but I'll spend the extra $30 we saved if that means that we can go grocery shopping without wearing safety gear.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Life as I Know it has Changed.
There is no turning back for me now.
When I was growing up, vampires and werewolves were nothing more than evil monsters that appeared in old black and white movies starring Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr. They were mindless monsters who caused a ruckus wherever they went, whether that be in merry-olde England, or chasing Abbot and Costello around with Frankenstein.
Dracula was always my favorite bad guy. He was the epitome of the monsters that you love to hate, and usually I would root for him to win (which still generally happens whenever I play the Castlevania video games.) There was just something awesome about him.
Now though, my entire view of vampires has been changed, and there will be no coming back for Mr. Nutz!
Recently, I decided to borrow copies of the books in the Twilight series, just to see what all the hoopla was about. I'd seen a trailer for the upcoming movie, and I thought that with a fourth novel coming out, I should really see why everyone on the Nutz side of the ol' family tree was going gaga over these books. I figured that they would be fast reads, but I never expected them to be so darn addicting. No sooner could I finish one, then I had to bury myself into the next one.
For the sake of anyone reading this blog who may not have read the books yet (like Mrs. Nutz) I won't go into any detail about the books, but man alive I can't stop thinking about how incredible I thought they really were.
About a week ago, I just finished off the fourth installment, Breaking Dawn, and already I'm going through withdrawls. While I would venture to say that I thought the series ended on a great note (indeed I think that the fourth installment is my favorite of them all) I can't believe that there are no more books about Bella and the Cullen Family. Yesterday morning, as I was getting in the shower to go to work, I even found myself wondering what it would be like to be a vampire like in the stories (sadly, the reality that vampires don't exist wasn't what pulled me out of my daydream; rather it was the realization that being said vampire would make it difficult to ever enjoy being in Disneyland again. I guess my old obsession still trumps my new one...)
On the plus side, Mrs. Nutz is thrilled that I have finished reading the books. She sees it as a plus that now I can concentrate on some more important things, like school work and helping her design product for her side business. I hope that she will soon pick up the books for herself and see why they're so engrossing, but knowing my wife as I do, I know she won't share in my obsessive enthusiasm for them. She tends to be more grounded in reality than I am, and that's why I love her.
Ironically, it was the trailer for the movie that got me interested in reading the books in the first place, and now that I have read them, I can honestly say that I think I will HATE the movie! I guess my sister-in-law is right, you really shouldn't read a book before seeing the movie.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Greetings From the Nut House.
I have a suspicion that my family and closest friends would find the name of this article to be more accurate than I would like to admit. Mrs. Nutz and I live in Utah with our dog and our cat. We've been married for almost two years now, and the animals are our only kids; so yeah, they're a little spoiled.
I'm an aspiring animator, and Mrs. Nutz is an administrative assistant. Actually we both work at the same place, and Mrs. Nutz is an assistant to our boss while I am a new peon... so now she has authority over me at work, and at home.
All kidding aside, my wife is wonderful, and with me she has to put up with a lot that makes her roll her eyes (such as this blog,) which she does with quite a bit of grace.
I admit that this is my first venture into the world of blogging, but I think that this will be a fun way for me to keep in touch with family and friends, as well as give my opinions and thoughts about random crap, and post drawings and possibly a web comic. My personal life tends to revolve around movies and all things Disney, so I'm sure that those things will be mentioned too. All in all, I just plan to have fun with this, and I hope that anyone who reads it, whether they be family and friends, or someone who stumbled along to it while googleing something crazy (like yack-butter and goat cheese flavored Pringles, or something silly like that.) will enjoy it for what it is.
So why make my webID a squirrel? Once a few years ago, I was doodling in my sketchbook, and I drew this picture of a goofy looking squirrel holdinga sign that asked "have you seen my nuts?" and I fell in love with that drawing immediately. My wife and I were dating at the time, and even she liked it, despite the innuendo joke. She liked it enough to let me cut it out in vinyl and put it on the window of HER car, and it still sits there to this day. In fact, my wife has a side-business selling vinyl home-decor, and I plan to start selling a line of vehicle decals that I create, and this squirrel will be one of them.
I guess that's all for my first post. I hope to add an update here soon, but first I should probably publish this one and welcome the world to my blog.
I'm an aspiring animator, and Mrs. Nutz is an administrative assistant. Actually we both work at the same place, and Mrs. Nutz is an assistant to our boss while I am a new peon... so now she has authority over me at work, and at home.
All kidding aside, my wife is wonderful, and with me she has to put up with a lot that makes her roll her eyes (such as this blog,) which she does with quite a bit of grace.
I admit that this is my first venture into the world of blogging, but I think that this will be a fun way for me to keep in touch with family and friends, as well as give my opinions and thoughts about random crap, and post drawings and possibly a web comic. My personal life tends to revolve around movies and all things Disney, so I'm sure that those things will be mentioned too. All in all, I just plan to have fun with this, and I hope that anyone who reads it, whether they be family and friends, or someone who stumbled along to it while googleing something crazy (like yack-butter and goat cheese flavored Pringles, or something silly like that.) will enjoy it for what it is.
So why make my webID a squirrel? Once a few years ago, I was doodling in my sketchbook, and I drew this picture of a goofy looking squirrel holdinga sign that asked "have you seen my nuts?" and I fell in love with that drawing immediately. My wife and I were dating at the time, and even she liked it, despite the innuendo joke. She liked it enough to let me cut it out in vinyl and put it on the window of HER car, and it still sits there to this day. In fact, my wife has a side-business selling vinyl home-decor, and I plan to start selling a line of vehicle decals that I create, and this squirrel will be one of them.
I guess that's all for my first post. I hope to add an update here soon, but first I should probably publish this one and welcome the world to my blog.
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