Thank God

so today we set out for albuquerque, nm today. but i guess i should catch you all up on the red neck christmas. i think it went over well. the stockings made out of tube sox were a real his. dust and i got a salad spinner and a fry daddy (what we asked for). we stayed with my aunt and uncle on christmas eve, and my parents stayed with my grandpa. it was fun. we got the aunt and uncle hooked up on skype (you should do it too, if you haven't already). we got my dad's grill put on the back porch so christmas morning he had no clue. that was fun. my new uncle's big gift was a .40 caliber gun. i thought it was some sort of pellet gun, but boy was i wrong. i never saw a gun that close before, but it wasn't loaded, so i was ok. (i did understand sebastian's philosophy on guns, though). we left after a late lunch on christmas day only to get home to fayetteville in the dark. we unwrapped our haul there. it was amazing. dust got a guitar, a pack of 20 beers, a lot of cd's. i got some shoes i had been wanting, a new wallet, band of brothers, and a lot of clothes. needless to say, most of our stuff will have to picked up at a later date or mailed out to us. but it was really nice to get to spend 10 days with my family. jamie came up the day after christmas. we took her to see walk hard (i recomend). then we just went out on the town. it is always nice when friends visit you. i like knowing that just because i am far away, people will still come see me. (meant to be emotional blackmail to get some of ya'll out to california to visit us). we went out to eat a lot and tried to get my parents hooked on the band of brothers. we played a little rock band. we partook in consumerism a lot and kicked it with the fam.


then today we left at 10 am. we were hoping to get to albuquerque, new mexico. evidently, there is a NEW mexico. everything was fine until we got to texas, of course. just a few miles into the god forsaken state (texas is arkansas's new hampshire), there has been a random snow storm. snow was packed on the road, and it was really slippery. we saw several cars in the median and a few flipped on the sides of the road. one even still had the people inside. people were running to help the people out of the car, and several cars that had passed us at high speeds were later seen in medians. luckily, dust was driving. i don't know if i would have made it. thank goodness we only had one car. if we both had to go through that, it would have been even more of a nightmare. anyway, the second the ice was done (really, an hour or two later) we saw this:

i think it was a sign. :)

rob, where were you on that one?

so. we've been entertaining ourselves here with a few things. i have started knitting my little niece a blanket. i put my mom to knitting as well so we should have it done before the poor girl gets to college. we went to see no country for old men. a cohen brothers movie. it was fabulous. but not a children's movie. i don't think sebastian and dorian would like it yet. maybe in a few years. :) that was day before yesterday. that was the day my swanky red boots came. i must tell you ladies, you should be glad i left town, because i look so hot in those things. seriously, it was like 60 degrees here so i really looked hot. it could be that i was nearly sweating, but i think it is the boots. and i love them. for the first time in a long time i was warm in december. i almost thought that was impossible.

yesterday we baked cookies and went to see the lights at my town square. it is pretty much my favorite part of coming home for christmas. i love it! so we walked around the square watching camels give rides to kids (which i am against, because, let's face it, camels weren't made to haul little kids in a circle on pavement.) it just makes me sad to see that. but it was there. so were the annual mini pony rides, which i also despise. i know it sounds like this is the worst thing in the world, but i just love those silly lights. it is just almost magical, and no matter the temperature, it makes me feel like christmas. they also had these clowns making balloon things for the kids. that was nice to see. and the kids loved it. it always makes me smile when kids are that happy. these pictures are from last year. but you get the idea. they decorate everything with lights. they even do hogs (our college mascot) all over the place. this makes me laugh, because what could remind the average person more of christmas then a huge well lit hog? i've yet to find it. but it makes me laugh. so this is what you guys all missed by not being here for christmas. as you can see, arkansas goes off. :)

people even decorate their yards with santa's sled being pulled by 8 hogs. see above. our christmas cookies we made--two were decorated with hogs. now that is saying something. after the light viewing. we made our way to this new ice cream store owned by my parents' friend's daughter. she used to babysit me. so i was amazed to see here there with her own child. (they were about to close. that is why she was there.) the ice cream was wonderful. i had chocolate cake batter with snow caps mixed in. dustin had a strawberry and cream shake (which he said was delicious). and my dad got a banana split. in only minutes we all had none left. it was great.

today we woke up in time to go get a quick dozen donuts with my dad from my favorite donut place. this is good for two reasons: 1. we get 12 donuts from a good place. and 2. we did not have to pay. so now we have donuts for a few days. that makes me want to get up. now you may be thinking, "cortneylangford, do you eat anything other than sugar there?" and i am happy to report, "not really." we went to see i am legend today. i had a bit of popcorn (no sugar added). but really, rob, you should have gone with dust to see that because the first half of the movie was too scary for me. ( that is the reason for the title of this blog entry). i should have known it would be too scary, but i went any way. it ended up being a nice story, but man that first half was terrifying. where were you, rob?

for dinner we went to my mom's friend's house. miss patty and mr. mike are their names. they are nice, but dust and i have nothing in common with them really. so it makes for an interesting night. we ate quiche and broccoli cheese soup( no sugar). but we also ate cake. it got really cold tonight. there was snow falling. no accumulation though. because it was 60 earlier in the day. i told you guys we live in the mountains here. supposedly, it will be cold from here on out, but cold here is 30. so that is better than 10. we gave my dad a private concert of the 750's on rock band when we got home. so that was fun. warmaning up the pipes with a few tunes. feels good to be back entertaining the crowds. there are certain songs that i won't sing because they are "quinn songs". so that makes the game a little harder. but luckily, there are enough that i can sing, that we managed. and my dad pretended to be impressed. always nice.

we have been getting ready for christmas. we do themes when we go to my aunt's house. two years ago my uncle made the theme fake teeth. no one else was aware of the theme. so i, having never met him, was a little shocked. last year, i went as a christmas crab and dust went as a christmas dog. my dad teaches drama at a high school here. so we had access to a few costumes. we even made up a song that included every one's name, but i can't remember it anymore. it is a shame, because it was good.

this year for christmas, we are making the theme "redneck christmas" . we are again not telling the family, but i have put little trinkets in tube socks as santa will not deliver "red neck things in tube sox." i welcome any suggestions you may have as far as red neck costumes. we will raid my dad's costume room again, i feel certain. we are going to drive down separately in his truck. so i think costumes are required. i was thinking dust could wear that white sweater and black dicky that randy quaid wears in christamas vacation. and maybe i could find a country outfit at the school. but i think that would be funny. what do you think. love you and miss you all.

clm

i've been every-where, man

so we made it to fayetteville, arkansas. thanks god. i wish i could say it was uneventful, but alas, it is always an adventure. so day one was ok. long, but ok. we went through pennsylvania in hopes of avoiding the weather in new york. pennsylvania is one long state. possibly longer than new york. but we made it to ohio at about 11:30 at night. dustin's ipod needed to be ripped apart a few times to clean out the dirt so a connection for the battery could be made. otherwise we could not play his ipod. also the station i have my fm transmitter tuned to was occupied by local radio stations. so for a small stretch we had no music. that was a long hour. :) day 2 we were tow hours north of where we usually get to on day one. so i was a little grumpier than usual. then right out side of indianapolis we got pulled over. (i was driving). turns out i was going 70 in a 55, and it is illegal to have a cat on your lap. who knew? but we didn't get a ticket, and actually, the cop was pretty quick to leave, and we couldn't find out why. then traffic came to a stand still. we started measuring how far we had moved in lengths we called "men." it took us two hours to go about two miles. so six foot lengths were appropriate. we were going crazy. but we made it to arkansas without tickets, and we were all unharmed. that is always the goal. we are making christmas cookies right now. so things are good. we have taken both of my parents out to lunch. (separate occasions, they do eat together, they just work separately). we finally got all of the christmas shopping done. also wrapped. so that makes it nice. other than that , things are realatively boring. just ask dust. we took a day off from eachother today. i think it was needed. so that is good. we got my parents hooked up to skype. look for them and feel free to call them. ( sallie and cliff langford). they would love it. today is my dad's last day of work before christmas and my mom's first day off. so i am loving it. it is nice to get to see my parents. i do love them. it is nice to not be cleaning out a house and moving and it is nice to not be driving more than 12 hours a day (we'll get more of that soon enough). we will see a few friends here, have christmas and be off on the 28th. yesh. i will have to remember how much i love a stationary life. only four years until we can stay put. man....maybe we just give this up now. traveling is rough, but we are half way through the country. so that helps. it is like a travel coupon. that is what is up with us. love you all.
cortney

friends...who needs 'em?

we leave vermont tomorrow to head to dayton and then to arkansas for christmas. we have said goodbye to a lot of friends. that is hard. part of me wishes i did not have any friends because then it would be easier to come and go as i need to. but in reality, i am more thankful for my friends than i could ever tell them. at thanksgiving every year i try to think of what is the thing i am most thankful for every year. this year i thought i was thankful for my parents having enough money to make my dream wedding a reality without me going into debt. but now i know i am not most thankful for something as silly as money. i am most thankful for the need of that money. having so many friends who really want to spend not only that day, but also a few snowy days in december. it is nice. you guys really know how to make a princess feel grateful. i do hope to hurry back in a meager five months, but just know that i do thank you. each and everyone of you is hard to leave for reasons you may or may not know. you all make me a better person. thank you all for being the swift kick in the nuts to make my dreams come true. i hope i one day get to return the favor. you all have to promise not to forget about us. i know we are only going to be gone five months, but we are leaving some of our favorite people behind and that is really tough. so even though it is only five months, we will miss you for what seems like a lifetime.
love you
cortney

a first timer here....

well, here we are. i am a little nervous because what am i to say that is so profound as to put it into the "WORLD WIDE WEB." do people even care? you must. and after all, i am a princess. so maybe you could learn a thing or two.


i am married to a boy who looks like this:
he is a farmer. he is tall and has blonde hair. he likes to play video games and make me laugh. i am a lucky princess.



we live in putney, vermont until monday and then we head out to berkeley , california until summer. we will take our two cats with us on the move. they love the car so that makes it easy. this is albee:









...and mona looks like this.
he is a silly boy and she is a cuddly little girl. infact, she is on my lap right now. it is nice to have so many things that i can love right in my house.



i am doing this because i have some friends who will check it. they look like this:
these boys are dorian ( or baby dee dee). he is a wiggle pants.
and sebstian (or big boy s, as we call him). he is our favorite drummer. aren't they cute?


also sideways allison and i in boston. we call her hott mama because she is so pretty. she puts the rest of us to shame. it is ok, though, because she is nice.
she is also craftsy. she knits. and makes neat felt toys. she is pretty much a big deal. you can look at her blog on this site too.
she and sebastian started this whole thing. sebastian's blog is amazing! he is updated most every day. it is nice to see him grow up. even if for a while it will only be watching him on the interweb.



so now they can watch me. it should be interesting. i will do good not to forget to update it. so keep looking. love to you all. your favorite princess.