It's beginning to look a lot like...

Winter.

Ha, I got you. But really, Austin has been experiencing the same Polar Vortex III: The Reckoning weather that everyone else has. (Okay, not quite everyone - sorry about those five feet of snow upstate New York!) But we've had a few days where the temperature has peaked in the forties, and a more than a few nights where just before dawn it hovered around freezing. I have responded to this by turning on the heater, but I refuse to pull out my beautiful down alternative comforter because I know as soon as I do, we'll be back to high-seventies weather just to spite me.

I have, however, moved the heating pad on to my corner of the couch, but usually when I move away for too long, this is what I'm greeted by:

Ellie has no shame when it comes to warmth-seeking.

In the meantime, we're coming up on prime invite-sending time for the January class... I'm still in the high teens last I checked, but the register is growing longer. However, after the midterm elections, it looks like a budget battle may be brewing, so I'm doing everything I can to keep my mind off of congress and focus on living life.

As I mentioned last time, I've been trying my hand in the kitchen, and I was inspired to make chicken soup in the pressure cooker from scratch. It was delicious! I also made so much that it got us through the coldest part of last week and greeted us after traveling back from Houston where we attended Matt's cousin's wedding. It was a fun time, and I enjoyed getting to know the farther flung members of my in-laws' clan over the weekend.

Yesterday I made a delicious pot roast in the pressure cooker, which turned out delightful and made for scrumptious leftovers today. Tomorrow, I'm going to attempt a beer can chicken. Wish me luck!

In other homemaker news, I've been itching to start decorating for Christmas, even though I normally balk at doing so before Thanksgiving. That's how badly I want to fast forward the next few months until we're in DC. I mention this, because it's the lead in to a very interesting exchange I had with my mom earlier today.

Ever since I passed the OA and decided that the Foreign Service was for sure the right thing for me, everyone I know has been asking me if I've heard anything yet. In fact, whenever I send a text to my mom to call me on her way home from work, I know I immediately have to tell her I haven't heard anything yet so we can get on with the real conversation. In some ways it's weird to have the same chat about what we don't know and the black box of hiring authority and "maybe november, no wait maybe january, well it could be march..." but I also know my friends and family love me and are just as excited and anxious as I am. I have the best support group ever.

However, that doesn't keep me from being a bit... idle. Ever since Matt wrecked my beautiful Ford Focus back at the beginning of grad school (on the same day he joined the National Guard), we've been a one car family. For the most part, this has worked out fine. Matt's schedule is a bit flexible and I could always get to school on the bus. We've made it work for us so far, but pairing this lack of mobility with the fact that I can't seem to find a reputable temp agency in Austin - well, it's made for an extended period of unemployment. Financially speaking, we're okay. It would be nice to have a second income, but not so nice that it justifies a second car.

This was on my mind when my mom called me today to thank me for stopping by on Sunday night to spend some time with her and C4, my darling nephew. She also wanted to thank me for some advice I gave her - she's in training for a new job and couldn't seem to focus on the training modules and retain the information. I told her to grab a notebook and take detailed notes - of everything! Turns out she just passed one of their assessments and had one of the highest scores in the group. I'm so proud. She then commented I sounded a bit tired, and I told her I'm just tired of being on tenterhooks about The Call.

Oddly enough, even with my recent spurt of domesticity, it still feels like I'm unemployed rather than a housewife. My mom jumped in here - I'm my husband's wife, not the house's - I'm a homemaker. Still, I maintain that I am unemployed (not unhappily so) and not a "homemaker". I suppose it's the same way I chose to identify as a grad student rather than an army wife while Matt was away in training for nine long months.

Mom said I need to stop viewing this unemployment thing as a negative. Matt and I are doing fine financially; I mean, things could always be better but he's doing great at work and we're alright overall. She says she choose to view this as my gap year - you know, the traditional year a lot of teenagers take between high school and college where the backpack around Thailand or work on a French vineyard or join a cult (I don't really know - this is just some beautiful rumor I've heard other people speak of). Some kind of letting-off-steam year that prepares them for the long, difficult slog of college and the career that follows it. So hey - this is my gap year. Or, if you like, my pre-employment vacation.

Then we turned to more fun things. I've been considering how to decorate our apartment for Christmas. A few years ago, we bought a fresh pine wreath and hung it in the living room after wrapping it with lights and hanging what few ornaments we own on it.

Okay, I just spent a solid hour looking for one of the photos I know I took of it, but I can't find it anywhere. I suppose you'll just have to imagine it yourself. Anywho, we're not doing that again this year because it sheds needles everywhere (ugh) and I want to find something a bit more reusable and packing-friendly. I brought this up to my mom, and she suggested searching for macrame christmas trees.

Here's what I thought would be ideal:

See? Nice and large, but easily compacted for travel. Wrap a few strands of light around them and you could also even hang some ornaments just for fun.

What did I find instead?

A little droopy and noisy...

kinda kitschy but it's got charm...

okay apparently this was THE hot Christmas project of the 1970s because there's about a million variations of this exact same thing - red beads and all - on ebay, etsy, everywhere

So, I sent my mom the following email:

After browsing a bit on Etsy and eBay and Amazon, I decided to take stock of what I actually have for Christmas decorations and go from there. Since this is fairly amusing, I thought I would just write it out for you and include pictures. 

First up! A Christmas tree... Of sorts. It's actually a collection of wine glass markers in cute packaging but this is off to a good start. 

Okay, well what about stockings?

Check and Check. We're such adorable M&Ms. 

Okay, what about Christmas lights to spruce up the place?

Well it's not pretty but they all work. 

Hmm... Anything in the ornament department?

Uh, I mean this was a present a few years back. It's not bad. It is, however very breakable and I'd feel better if it migrated to someone else's tree. 

As much as I love Ellie, this ornament sheds glitter and seems extremely breakable. Maybe I'll try to sneak this on to the in-laws tree this year. 

This is a pretty cool ornament, kinda breakable but has a sturdy package thing going on. Reminds me of my lost Fabergé-esque egg collection. Keeper, but not worth justifying buying an entire tree just to hang this. 

Oh what's this? A cruise ship ornament from three years ago? Okay you can hang around too, but I'm still not buying a tree for your miniature cruising pleasure. 

Hmm, a set of wedding favor ornaments from [Matt's Best Friend]'s wedding. Kinda breakable, but would look cool on like a string of lights or something. 

An old gift tag and a sparkly plastic snowflake. I have no idea what you're doing but keep up the good work. 

Okay, not an ornament. This was the little pin on my stocking growing up. It is in desperate need of a new googly eye. 

So the ornament count is negligible, so I'll skip the macramé tree or wreath we discussed earlier. 

But wait! That's not all!

I also have...

A real nutcracker!

And...

Bobble head Yoda and candy dispensing Darth Vader. 

I think we're all set for the Christmas season - what say you?

At which point my mother laughed, agreed, and kindly pointed out that I should probably blog this.

I know I also had a pickle ornament for awhile - it sat on top of my dresser at my childhood home for years but it's been lost to us. *sad face* It was a gift from Pamela - her family has a tradition of hiding the pickle on their christmas tree and whoever finds it first thing on Christmas morning gets the extra "pickle present" for that year. She gave me my own pickle in an attempt to pass on the tradition if Matt and I have kids. Unfortunately I can't find it anywhere, so if any family member finds a glittery glass pickle ornament and can't explain where it came from - please let me know!

So enjoy my assortment of Christmas odds and ends. They all live in a little sterilite box with my halloween bat, costume bowtie, and Matt's Darth Vader shirt.

What's a Halloween Bat, you ask?

Only the best present a stressed-out grad student ever received from a friend while she was literally counting down the days until her husband returned home and was too busy to even think about a social life or decorating for Halloween.

So thanks Bethany - your bat will follow us around the world and serve as substitute for the traditional decorative gourd. I hear those can be hard to find overseas...

In the meantime, please enjoy this festive dachshund!

Thanks Julia for the adorable sweater!