Muppets!

We must confess…we love the Muppets!  Eric recently found that the Muppets have their own YouTube channel: MuppetsStudio.

Here are our two favorites:

“Bohemian Rhapsody”

And “Ode to Joy”

Hope that brought a smile to your face this weekend!

The Adventures of the Ploxen and the Return of the Plooster

Our corner of town evidently attracts strange types of animals.  What kinds of animals, you ask?  Well, plastic ones.

Case-in-point Number 1: The Ploxen

Meet George and Larry.

Larry (the one on the right) is a joker and a ham while George (on the left) is kind of the straight man.  They are closely related to the common ox (plural “oxen”), but since they are made of plastic they are, in fact, Ploxen (pronounced just like “oxen”).

Ploxen are natural protectors and tend to be as faithful as Horton himself.  Eric and I are lucky to have such great neighbors to the East.  They are committed guardians of their covered wagon and all the traffic that passes by.  (Though I have a sneaking suspicion that in the middle of the night they climb in there and watch a movie or two on television.)

I met the Ploxen by chance when road renovations changed my route to work for an entire year.  Seeing George and Larry there in the morning and evening always managed to bring a smile to my face, no matter how bad the road conditions at the time were.  Since then, our roads have been fixed and I practically never see good ol’ George and Larry.  Though, I think of them time to time and even drive by to visit on rare occasions.  And seeing them still makes me smile.

Case-in-point Number 2: The Plooster

Meet Sunny.

He is our friendly neighborhood Plooster.  Like the Ploxen being closely related to oxen, Ploosters are close cousins to average roosters.  But once again, being plastic is what sets Ploosters apart.

When we moved into this part of town we immediately noticed Sunny.  He has a bright and cheery personality which makes him stand out among his drab surroundings.  But within just a few months (perhaps due to the crazy road construction, once again) Sunny left us.  He has told me that during that time he went for an extended vacation down to Acapulco, Mexico to visit a distant relative.  I doubt that he needed the distant relative for an excuse to get away from the crazy road work to go lounge on the beach, but that’s beside the point.  When we noticed that Sunny the Plooster was gone we were deeply saddened.  Every time we drove past his old spot we would mention how we missed him.

[Cars are shown to illustrate Sunny's large size.]

But…Eric was thrilled to notice that Sunny had returned last week!  And he’s all rested up and as shiny and as cheery as ever!  Admittedly, for the longest time we used to call Sunny a Plicken (like “chicken”) but my dad recently corrected that huge mistake.  Good thing, too, we wouldn’t want to upset Sunny and give him another excuse to leave us.

Now all is right with the world, with the Ploxen to our East and the Plooster to our West.  Perhaps our neck of the woods will attract some more plastic animals soon!  We can only hope…

*Note: The creative rights and credit of the names Plicken, Ploxen, and Plooster belong to my dad.

Plans Change

Sometimes plans change.  For me and Eric it seems more often than not that our plans need to remain flexible and fluid.  It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it can actually be good.  It can teach us patience, reliance on God, resilience, and hope.  That’s some great stuff.

One plan that changed recently was that Eric will continue taking courses for his bachelor’s degree for another year.  It might sound like a bit of a bummer, but it was the best option laid before him and we believe it will work out for the best.  We’re actually excited about this change.

The other change is that I’m shifting more of my focus to writing.  I know I’ve mentioned this a bit before, but now I’m starting to actually live it out.  In the evenings now when Eric’s working on his homework I’ll be working on my writing.  I’m very excited that ideas and words are starting to flow in the story.  This may mean that blog posts will be slightly more rare, but I’ll still keep updating hopefully weekly (or at the very least bi-weekly).

Various other things in life are shifting, moving, growing and we’re trying to follow accordingly.  Keeping hope, walking in faith, chasing after peace.

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
~Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)

Good Day Off

Today was a holiday and tomorrow is Eric’s first day of his last semester for his Bachelor’s degree.  So, Eric and I made sure to enjoy our day of freedom.  We slept in, enjoyed a couple of locally made smoothies and watched “Leap Year.”  We both laughed a fair amount during the movie and thought it was really cute.  Might share more about that later.

Today was a very good day.  Hopefully tomorrow will be too, but that’s a whole different kind of “good”.

We hope your days are good as well.

Little Letters Part V

Dear January,
I understand how you have a cold-hearted nature, but please, could you keep it at least in the upper 20’s? Winter in Missouri should not feel like winter in North Dakota, Canada, or Iowa for that matter.

Dear Desk,
I’m looking forward to you coming to stay with us once again. My apologies for thinking that I didn’t need you over the last few months, but hopefully you had a fine time during your holiday with my parents. May our friendship pick up right where it left off.

Dear Sherlock Holmes,
You alluded us last night, but we will catch you this week if it’s the last thing we do! Mwahaha!

Dear Eric’s Final Semester of Undergrad,
Don’t take this too personally, but you appear rather demanding and not much fun at all. We hope Eric’s partnership with you will be as quick and as painless as possible. Our friend Summer keeps begging us to visit, but we have to spend our alotted time with you first.

Dear Avatar,
I find it funny how people have compared you to the Ferngully. But, they are rather mistaken, you really are much better than that. You see, Ferngully’s musical numbers were so horrendous that Robin Williams couldn’t even save the film. And you have a decent plot to boot, no matter what the critics say.

Dear Plans and Dreams,
Eric and I really love spending time talking to you.  Both of you are so very exciting!  We better hang out in small doses though, or else we’re bound to get carried away…

Going to a Switchfoot Concert!

Switchfoot has been one of my favorite bands for a long time now.  They call themselves “San Diego Rock” and are often categorized as alternative or even Christian rock.  Their sound is great, always.  Their lyrics tend to carry good meaning.  And if that wasn’t enough they are heavily involved in artistic and activist/charitable work.  Put that all together and you have one extremely awesome band, to say the least.  I’ve seen them twice in concert.  The first time was a long time ago when the band was still starting out and the second was a few years ago.  And let me just say, they put on a superb show.

Well, we got word a few days ago that Switchfoot is going to play in St. Louis in February.  Eric and I have waited somewhat impatiently for Switchfoot to come to good ol’ Missouri, so the moment the tickets went on sale for this concert we seized the opportunity bought two.

We are beyond excited to go see Switchfoot!  Pictures will definitely be taken and stories told.  Though, I don’t plan on living behind the camera this time around, I have to make sure to enjoy the music and the moment as well.

So, all of this to say, we’re counting down the days…

*Pictures found on Switchfoot’s Official Site.

Letter to My North Face Beanie

Dear Dearly Departed North Face Beanie,

I’m sorry that I dropped you on the way in to work this morning.  Once I figured out you were gone I searched high and low to no avail.  I’m seriously bummed that you are gone for good.  You were so nice, warm and soft.  We’ve been many great places together, as I’m sure you remember.  Ah well, it’s over.

My sincerest wish is that whoever found you either really needed a warm hat or that finding such a treasure as yourself made their entire year.  I hope you move on and have a marvelous life and that you understand as I move on as well.  I took my first step towards that this evening as I purchased your identical twin on the North Face online store.  We hit it off and I think there is definitely a future there.  May the same be true of you and your new owner.

Warmest wishes,

Kara “Sky” McGinty

Welcome Frank!

Meet Frank the Script Typewriter.

Isn’t he handsome?

Frank Navasky joined our family right before Christmas.  He waited patiently for a new typewriter ribbon so he could appropriately introduce himself and I finally got around to fixing him up this weekend (and got lots of ink all over my hands in the process).

You can find his letter below.

Click here for a larger version of the letter.

Indeed, you will be seeing more of Frank and Nancy here on the Muse and Murse blog.  Nancy also got a new ribbon for Christmas and is excited to type to you all once again!

Christmas Cookie Adventures

While visiting my parents over Christmas we made some Christmas cookies along with the crazy video below…

And here are a few pictures of us making the cookies!

We had tons of fun in our Santa and Reindeer hats and our Christmas-y colors!

A few more Christmas time pictures are on the way!

Christmas Scenes from Our Home

Here are a few pictures of the Christmas decorations around our home.

Our little woodland tree and reindeer.

The electric fireplace, nativity and stockings.

Our Playmobil nativity set.

The Christmas tree (and presents we are going to give).

And the Christmas tree in the dark.

Hope you enjoyed the little seasonal tour!

Have a marvelous Christmas week from the Muse and Murse!

All pictures can be found on our Flickr photostream.

P.S.-That final picture was taken during our visit to Big Cedar.  That’s not our house, haha.