Condolences...

A friend of mine, who reads my blog (and doesn't comment like the rest of you lurkers!) saw my post last week about the spoon. She felt so bad for me and my family that she sent us a card of condolences.



It feels so good to think others were thinking of us in our time of sorrow ;)

Thanks for the laugh, D!

6 Things About Me MeMe

That witch over at ATF is making me do this. So, I'm gonna do it. And then I'm going to name six of you people that have to do it at the end. Blame her.

Okay, so I have to tell you six things you may not know about me. Seriously, I'm pretty much an open book, so these will suck.

1. My favorite book genre is memoirs. The more screwed up the better. It reminds me that my family is not the only one that might belong on Jerry Springer.

2. I LOVE Halloween. I like it more than Christmas, truth be told. I love decorating the yard, I love making up the candy bags, watching the kids trick-or-treat. LOVE it.

3. It took me nearly 3 years from the time I moved to Austin to meet anyone that would become really good, close friends. You know, the ones you'd probably die not only for your own kids but for their kids? Or ones where you can show up on their doorstep with a cup of coffee and they don't wig out that their hair isn't brushed or they haven't cleaned? Yes, those friends. I secretly want to make them all move onto my little block in my neighborhood so we could actually do that!

4. I hate Science Fiction and Fantasy books. I've tried, several times, to read them. I don't get it. I wish I liked them so Tom and I could read them and talk about them, but I just can't get into them. There have been VERY few that I liked.

5. It still amazes me that my husband knows me so well. Like really well. It's scary. Like the books, he'll read a SciFi book and I know if he tells me "you'll like this one, read it" that he'll be right. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it still surprises me. Or he'll just know I've had a bad day and just do the dishes after he makes dinner so I can just go chill out a bit.

6. I think the PedEgg is the best thing EVER! I used to have really bad sore, cracked feet and now, nodda. I'm THRILLED with that thing! It's actually freaky how well it works. And no, I don't work for "As Seen On TV" ;)

Well, Crystal only chose 2, but I'm still recovering from this respiratory crud, so I'm gonna call out six of you. :p
1. My husband, Tom, cuz I wanna see his answers
2. Lanel, at Charming Tales, cuz she's neglecting her blog
3. Heather, at Life As We Know It, cuz she's a blog queen
4. Jenny, at Beyond Mom, cuz I wanna be as funny as she one day
5. Kris, at KC's House, cuz she's crazy, but in a really good way!
6. And YOU... yes, you... the person reading this blog. YOU get to do it too!

When you are done, come back and tell me you did it in the comments :)

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The twins' visit... cute overload! Part 2

I posted the videos yesterday, but you know I also took pictures, right?!?! Here they are again...

This is my favorite of the bunch. I love this photo!


This one I adore the look on Kathryn (the one in the front)'s face. LOL. She looks like a grumpy old man, but it's just so sweet!


And this one because it cracks me up - I can just read K's mind "gimme some of that thumb, E!)

The twins' visit... cute overload! Part 1

So, a couple of weeks ago, my friend's twins came to visit. They have their own blog as well, The Misadventures of TWO Mullers, or their super cool sister's blog, The Misadventures of One Victoria J . But... their mom gave them to me for like two whole hours. They were so happy too! We had a great visit.

Kathryn was a bit of a show off this time though. Every time I grabbed the camera, she hammed it up. Better watch out for that one, Mom. She's tiny, but she's mighty!

Here she is distracting me from taking video of her sister, Elizabeth - by asking for her Momma!


And here little miss thing is doing the leapfrog crawl - and while I wasn't looking, Elizabeth was gonna go after her bottle all by herself!


(Oh, and notice how mom color coordinates them! Elizabeth is wearing purple and had a purple bib and a purple bottle. Kathryn was wearing pink and had a pink bib and pink bottle.) LOL!

There is no spoon...

This is a spoon.



But not just any spoon. This is one of the last utensils that Tom and I have from the dishes and stuff we got when we first were married - over 15 years ago. This spoon had daily use. It was the perfect length and the perfect size. It was used to stir gallons of tea, serve oddles of veggies and scoop out dozens of eggs from the boiling pot for Easter. It used to be white, it is now well stained (and loved).

The spoon has left us, though. It fell on the element in the dishwasher and it burned, as you can easily see.

I need a new spoon. I'm surprisingly nostalgic about the spoon... Hmmmm...

And yes, Tom, we have officially outlasted the indestructible spoon.

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Do opposites really attact?

I'm anti-clutter. All of my stuff is pretty well contained. I have a place for all of my stuff and I try to ensure that my stuff goes back there. I'm regularly picking up my stuff and putting it where it belongs. Freecycle is my friend. If I don't use it, it goes.

Tom, on the other hand, goes back and forth. Sometimes, I can get him to throw away stuff and sometimes he hoards EVERYTHING. He's doing the latter now. He always has piles though. Piles of Tom's paper, piles of Tom's to-do stuff. Piles and piles. Books are a perfect example. (it's a good thing I love the man).

We are supposed to clean out his office. I'm scared to go in there as it now. I call it the Man Cave. There is STUFF everywhere. It's scary. I'll take pictures once it's cleaned up (I'll try to get before shots too!)

In the meantime, our books:

This is the book I'm reading sitting on my dresser:


This is the book Tom is reading, sitting by the door to go outside:


These are my bookshelves (the books are mine, the other stuff is Tom's or the kid's junk). Notice how decently neat they are?


These are Tom's bookshelves. A few are not put up right, but not too bad. Even space for some more...


So, why, do I ask... does he have piles of EXTRA books all over? Hmmmm.... *laugh*

In his office:


In the living room:


So, do opposites attract? Am I the only one that loses her mind from her spouse's inability to stop making piles of stuff? Is there a 12 step program for him (or for me? I swear I get OCD about it sometimes)...

Anyway... random! :)

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RIP: Joshua Andrew Martin

My cousin passed away last week. He was just a few months older than I am. It was natural and he will be missed by the entire family. My heart goes out to my aunt. His obituary is HERE.



This picture is a couple of years old. This is Josh with his father, who passed away shortly after it was taken. My sisters are going to the funeral along with a few aunts/uncles.

If you are family members, Aunt JoAnn has asked for donations in lieu of flowers. You can find that information in the link above.

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A Day of Rememberance...

I'm not all that patriotic. I'm probably not even what some would consider a good American. However, today is the 7th anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the United States. I remember where I was. I remember what I was doing. I remember worrying about my friends that worked/lived in New York. I remember the state of shock and sadness. But, I also remember watching in awe as people banded together. The world will never been the same, this is true, in so many ways.

You have google, you can read about the attacks, but here's the wikipedia entry

Where were you on September 11, 2001? You don't have to answer here, but I will be taking time to reflect and remember what was lost (and maybe even gained in an odd little way - humanity wise anyway) on that day.

As for me, my husband was away on business and I had smiling almost 11-month-old boy that was crawling around on the bed while I got dressed and talked to him about how friends were coming to visit, it was a pretty lazy day with no big plans going on except a visit from friends from Houston. He was so happy that day and it was pretty peaceful. I turned on the TV right at around 8am to check the weather just as the 2nd plane hit while they were live talking about the first building. For about an hour, I just sat there watching with my jaw on the ground while he crawled around wondering what I had brought him into. The insanity of that day lives forever, trying to figure out when Tom would be able to get back home, getting extra hugs from my son, and trying to make some sense of it all.

We were lucky, it took a few days, but Tom made it home (with me a nervous wreck knowing he was on an airplane). Our friends were okay, at least physically. And life got back to some semblance of normalcy. But, we always remember. Always.
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TGIF - and Happy 4th of July!

I'm thinking this will be the perfect thing to go with the little party we are having here on the 4th with our friends...

It even SAYS TGIF and it has alcohol... score!



Oh, and this little baby that a client gave me (seriously, how cool is this?)

What a fabulous dinner...

Sometimes dinner doesn't go so well (like last night when I tried to make a non-crockpot recipe into one and we ended up eating sandwiches). Sometimes it does... like tonight. We are playing in a Recipe Zaar game where you "tour" different areas of the world. This week we were doing Central America... we had the most amazing dinner tonight... I am not really big on steak, so I made shrimp in addition to the steak. We had some friends over and had a great time (wine too!)

Black Bean Salad - http://www.recipezaar.com/213207


Peruvian Rice - http://www.recipezaar.com/310204


Beef & Chimichurri Sauce - http://www.recipezaar.com/307536


(same recipe, just a view of the sauce after I made it - yes, me, Candy, made the sauce - and the bean salad actually!)


Shrimp (I'll link the recipe when it posts)


Jamie, I think, was the only one at the table that liked it ALL. That child will truly eat anything :) And yes, he drops food on himself -- just like mom. I'm forever making a mess. LOL

My new theme song...

I hate car shopping (Tom needs a new one). They tried to flip us at closing - Tom goes up there and gets it settled and I just come up to sign. Apparently they think I'm going to stay there. No. I'm there to sign papers. If you change it, I leave. So Tom wasted a few hours of his time yesterday. Ugh. I think because I know what goes on behind the door and when the sales people say "I'll be right back, let me talk to the desk" I get annoyed too easily. Working in finance for a sales place probably ruined me. LOL.

My photo won Honorable Mention!

http://www.diyphotography.net/at-my-home-photo-contest-the-winners

How cool is THAT?!?!

It was for this picture - which I am immensely proud of... :) I openly admit I'm an amateur and if I get a good picture, it is sometimes a little bit of luck and sometimes a little bit know-how.

You can hear them talk about it on their podcast although for some reason they don't talk about mine, but hey, that's okay. Although I would have liked to hear their opinions.



Okay, I promise I'll stop posting that picture now... LOL... I know, it's JUST honorable mention, but take a look at some of the other photos... there was some amazing ones!

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Books Books Books and More Books

I know this comes as a huge surprise to anyone that knows me - even in passing, but...

I love books. I love to read, I love to hold books and choose which one to read next. I love when I get a new book to read. I wish I had an entire huge room to devote to a library, but really, how practical is that?

Ah... yes. I'm also a "get rid of it" type of girl. Things have a 6 month rule in this house (well, they used to, we are trying to get back into that again). If no one has used it or otherwise enjoyed it within 6 months, it's gone. The only thing safe are special cooking gadgets, holiday decorations and to-be-read or otherwise special books. I still, every now and then, weed through them to take out those that I'm either no longer interested in reading or I don't remember why I wanted it in the first place. I get rid of those. Either through Paperback Swap or giving them to a friend or whatever. They are gone. But it's so hard. I want to be one of those crazy book hoarders, but it's just not in my nature... I have a few books that I keep, but for the most part, I figure if I want to re-read something so bad that it will go above the 150 or so books waiting for me to read them, well, I can just get another copy somewhere.

So, recently, I weeded through my bookshelves... they look all clean and tidy again. Well, except for the kid's stuff around it. Ignore that. When do they move out again?



Tom's side is even reasonably clean (trust me, as much as I love the man, he's a huge slob). I have noticed he's been stockpiling some in his room, but it's the man cave and he can do whatever he wants in there, so I'm trying not to go in there and start grabbing and Frecycling... *laugh*

Slideshow of the kids cooking french toast...

Tom and I do this contest for charity each year on Recipe Zaar. It's called the Zaar World Tour. Basically, a group of 10 (well, 16 groups I think) cook dishes that are from various countries. It's a lot of fun and a chance to try different things. This year, there was a Kid-Friendly Challenge and we had the absolute BEST time tonight... here's a slide show and more of the story under it...


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

The story here is that Tom is the best Daddy ever and decided to let 5 year old Cassie crack the eggs. She made a huge mess, but it was so worth it. After the first one we were quiet while Tom cleaned up the shells from the bowls and you saw her little head peer over the lip and say "oops!" - we all cracked up laughing. Her big brother, Jamie, helped her in the bathroom to wash up after all the egg cracking was done.

Jamie is 7 and he got to cook - this is the first time we've let him actually cook something. He did great, even flipped them half way through! He also read the recipe to us and helped mix the sugar/cinnamon. We had a great time with a lot of laughs and this was truly a great memory - we all had fun.

Freaking out the young'uns...

I work odd hours. I work a LOT of hours sometimes. So that my butt doesn't start becoming one with my desk chair, I move to the living room and work on my laptop if I need to work at night. I use this product that let's me "log in" to my desktop computer and work on it like I'm sitting right there. It's pretty cool. Of course, if anyone moves anything on either computer, both screens see it. So, I was watching a movie with the kids in the living room, cutting some checks. I needed to come into the office to grab them and decided to mess with them.

So, I opened Word and typed "I love my kids" and inserted smiley faces and hearts and stuff, made them different colors. The kids were laughing, I typed Jamie's name and he nearly freaked out that the computer knew HIS NAME. *laugh*



Eventually, they figured out it must be me... so Jamie got brave and decided to type back... yes, he wrote "poopy". Great. Just great. 'Course at least it's a word. Cassie just did gobbly-gook afterwards.



We had a good laugh AND it got Jamie interested in learning to "write" using the computer. He's not interested in learning to type (when do they learn that nowadays? I think I taught myself around 10 or so, but we "learned" it in high school maybe?). Anyway... so now he's allowed to type his spelling words once per week. Which he thinks is AWESOME. We let him use Wordpad and he changes the color and font and stuff. Such a smart kid!

So yeah, I scared my kids.

Oh, the avocado seed started getting white and pink mold spores on it. I ended up washing it off and the seed covering came off. It was all slippery. Uhh... duh. Tom and I are idiots and haven't been changing the water. Yes. Laugh. Go on. Feel better? Anyway, the seed is cracked all the way around... hopefully we'll see some roots start to form... the kids will go crazy if we do!

Babies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally! A friend of mine *waves to M* had twins about 5 months ago, but they weren't allowed visitors for a long time, then I got sick and I've just not been able to meet them. BUT! Yesterday Tom and I got to babysit for a couple of hours! Yay! Meet Kathryn and Elizabeth. They are SO cute! And yes, I sniffed their heads ;)

I gotta hand it to mom though. With these 2 plus an almost-3-year-old running around, I would be completely insane by now. The babies are so sweet though... I even got them both to smile... crappy quick snapshot pictures, but I wanted to play with them :)

This is talkative Elizabeth aka "The Pink One" because she had on pink...


This is sweet little Kathryn aka "The Purple One" because she had on purple:


And here they are together... awwwww....

(what you don't see is me bent over then begging them not to cry while Tom is making wiggly finger gestures above them. I sometimes wonder what babies think... surely they must think these adult people are nuts.

They *almost* make me want to go out and do it all over again... and then I remember the diapers. Seriously, I can do the late nights, middle of the nights, poop and vomit are my downfall. LOL. That and Cassie was EXTREMELY jealous. She was all excited and then she realized that she wasn't the center of attention... she held it in pretty well, but she was NOT happy.

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The end of an era...

I just posted on my business blog, but

... wow, I'm so excited. Oh yes, I had a great year and I feel good about the business side of things, but I'm so happy to be getting parts of my life back. I feel like I've been neglecting the kids a bit, the hours have been insane.

But.

I can blame Tom.

You see, I wasn't going to take it. He talked me into saying "Yes!"

His fault.

Alllllll his fault.

Nah, it's been a fabulous year, but I'm looking forward to getting back into a regular routine and having less responsibility for every little thing that happens :)

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Big Girl Cassie and more Signs...

Lookit how long her piggy tails are? Wow! She looks so grown up, her looks have changed so much just in the past few months. She's such a little girl!



So, the little girl next door was over a few days ago playing and apparently Jamie did something that ticked the girls off. I found this taped to Cassie's door:


It says "No boys allowed, we give up on you" and a heart with an X.

I'm sure this was devastating as Jamie tells me he's marrying the little girl next door and here she is Xing out the hearts. Harsh, dude!

So, Jamie retaliates with THIS sign:


It says "No girls, do not bother or else. I am mad. Girls come in and I chase them I ????" and LOTS of Xed out hearts... double harshness!

They seem to have made up because they are all out there watching Tom build the new improved big fort... pictures coming up soon!

.

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Anniversary, Tooth, And Rapper

Today makes 15 years that I have been putting up with Tom. Yes, we got married 15 years ago today (see that little "family since" thing at the top? Bet you thought I was making that up!). Even if you are a pain in my tushie, I still love ya, Tom - and expect to have to put up with you for at least 50 more! Love ya, doody-head!

Six months ago, we took Jamie to the dentist for a regular check up. We noticed that his teeth were crowding a loose one, but weren't worried. The dentist wanted us to see about braces. Dude, he's SEVEN. So we waited. Went back to the dentist recently and noted that his teeth had moved around to not crowd that loose tooth that WAS STILL IN HIS HEAD. He came home today with a necklace - it was a plastic tooth that opened up... inside was THE TOOTH. About time that sucker came out!



Cassie is apparently gonna be a rapper when she grows up. Yo!

Birthday Gals!

A friend of mine and I have birthdays which are just a few days apart. This year we decided to have lunch and go to... (you will be shocked)... the book store! We had dinner at Texican Cafe and then wandered around Barnes and Noble while she watched me spaz out, grabbing books and telling her to read this one and that one and not bother with that one. (Tom hates to go with me, I touch everything). I came away with BOOKS! Oh and we had cheesecake at the Starbucks there. Yum!



I got:
1. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming - Okay, I am 99.9% sure this book was due out on March 4. But it was there and it's for sale on Amazon. I feel gypped because I had specific plans to get this book the day it came out and it's already out! *laugh* It will be read VERY soon. I love this author!

2. Beautiful Boy - I know, I read depressing stuff sometimes. This is a neat memior though. Instead of it being about the person... it's written by the father watching his son go through drug addiction back.

3. Eat Pray Love - I KEEP LOSING THIS BOOK. It freaks me out. The first one I had to return to who I borrowed it from because I didn't read it. The next one has disappeared. It's no where to be found. If this one disappears too, I'm going to assume that someone doesn't want me to read it.

4. The Red Tent - My friend (Lana) says she loved it and has mentioned it a few times. So Imma give it a shot. Not my usual thing... but there ya go. She bought this one for me :)

I bought her The Time Traveler's Wife (No, she hadn't read it! Freak!)

Yay! I gotta start on the Jackson book seeing as everyone got a day or two jump on me *pouts*

Happy Birthday, Lana!

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MNO: The One Where Candy Is The Paparazzi

We had a Mom's Night Out at one of my friend's houses on Saturday night. Her husband was out of town and her kid was at grandma's house. SCORE! For those of you wondering what a mom's night out really is, it's basically an excuse for us moms to dump our children on our husbands and sit around either a restaurant or someone's house and laugh (or cackle as Dy's hubby says - he actually calls us "that cackle of women that came to my house") and drink and laugh and bitch and moan and drink and laugh some more :-)

As our little group has grown (we had like 10 people show up this time), we've started having them at someone's house - not as noisy as a restaurant and we all just bring something to drink/eat/whatever and do whatever. This time we had Boogie to keep us entertained. You know you are with good friends when you can get halfway sloshed, sing off key, call them dying cats and they still love you anyway :)

Angela can actually sing - either that or I had more margaritas than I thought. Yes, Denise always looks this confused. *snicker*


This is Claire Delaine. She can sing pretty well too.


This is Jen. She's preggie and the cutest thing ever. We made her sing a few times though :p


This is my friend, Denise. She was trying to dance along with the character on the screen. This was after only one margarita.


We had a great time. Thank you, Dy, for letting me crash at your place :)

Speaking of Dy... make sure you visit her blog before her hubby makes her take that post down... it's freaking HILARIOUS!

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Work Sucks and I shouldn't blog this late... err... early.

I am so over this accounting crap. Next year, I'm quitting in December and we'll all go live out of cardboard boxes on the street for a few months. I'm exhausted. It's 4:15am and I'm just getting ready to head to bed. This is so not normal, people! I mean, I like the work and I know that this is the busy crazy time and that the Summer is one big lull, but dude, I HATE January. I hate 1099s. I hate W2s. I hate the IRS. I hate the social security administration. I hate all the states that cannot agree on one freaking rule so I have to keep looking crap up. I absolutely detest California. I'm always in this foul mood this time of the year. Oh, and my primary printer keeps getting stuck and is now saying it needs a new drum. I think it needs to be put out to the curb.

The good news? Because I stayed up so late, I shouldn't be completely crazy on Wednesday and Thursday. I've got a few that need some major TLC so that's a good thing. I'll just have to put the coffee maker to the ultimate test tomorrow. I'm going to bed - for... err... a nap.

Obligatory Pics:





(Yes, I let her have orange soda. Bite me, perfect Mommies).

What?

Oh, and did I tell you? The President of the PTA is moving. So that means Tom is now the President apparently. Just perfect. Like we don't have enough volunteer crap going on in this house.

Whatever.

Ahh.... I feel mostly human!

I've still got the left over stuff, but I think we are all finally well! My ears hurt from all the crap that's stuffed up in there, but no one is running a fever, no one has a runny nose... ahhh....

More later. Just had to post something GOOD for a change. LOL!

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The day from hell and beyond...

So, let's see how my week went, shall we? Everyone was sick at some point. I spent the good part of Tues in the bed either sweating or shaking with the chills. I was so sick. I spent Wed feeling like crap, but I worked - I was supposed to go to a client, but I just couldn't so I postponed a day. So, I went on Thursday...

Thursday. Oh, Thursday. It was the best day EVER - NOT. It started with me on the side of Interstate 35 with a flat tire, being late for an appointment, still sick as a dog, and ended with $700 at the tire place cuz we needed 4 new tires and an alignment. I actually have a long tirade about customer service (mostly good), but I'll post that on my biz blog later.

Yeah.

I was sick on Friday. Oh, and I'm still sick today. All that crap has moved up into my head and sinus cavities. I'm absolutely dying. I'm taking a decongestant and some headache meds and it's helping. I am pretty desperate though and made Tom go get me something called a neti pot. It's this little pot with a long spout, you stick it up your nose and water comes out the other nostril. It "cleans" your sinus out. Whatever. I can breathe better, but I got salt water in the back of my throat while trying to figure it out. It did work okay though. I can breathe better. It was freaking weird though.

Anyway. I'm still sick, feeling better though.

Tom bought the kids rakes because they told him to. I told him to buy KID sized rakes. Do THESE look kid sized to you? I keep waiting for someone to get hurt out there. They say they are gonna rake all the leaves in a pile so they can jump in them.... ummmm... okay.



At least the kids seem to be all better - save the leftover cough.

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The View From My Desk

NOTE: If you are here looking for the tree topper saga that one of my so-called friends told you about (LOL)... it's here

My desk looks out over a window. I have a gap area where the edge of the wall and the computer monitor don't meet from my point of view. It's great because I can see the kids on the swings while I work and there's also this beautiful old tree that I can see the edge of. Several times per day, I see squirrels running up and down the tree with acorns they find on the ground. I've tried to get pictures before, but if I try to sneak outside they catch me and disappear... so today, I grabbed the camera, zoomed in close and took pictures! Not too bad consider that window is dirty. I can NOT believe I got the one sitting on the branch. It was in a deep shadow. I have no idea how I did that, but gift horse, mouth, etc etc...

So, here's one of my little buddies...



You can see on the left the dark area there is actually the edge of the window frame, it was a tight fit!


He's a little out of focus, but at least you can see him up there... he perches there to store his loot and stare around waiting for a blade of grass to move so he can scurry away. Jittery little guys!


I'm not even going to complain that we had the A/C on earlier today. Nor will I complain that we even HAVE squirrels around in DECEMBER. It got cold tonight. For a while. Who knows how long. I'm moving back to Hawaii, I swear it! Watch me! Ummm... okay, maybe not. But geez!

Jamie's last soccer game this season and ramblings

First the pictures... Jamie's last game of the season was on Saturday and I took some pictures:

I think this is the first time Jamie actually got to throw in!


He spent, what I think, is a lot of time on the bench. I know he isn't the most athletic, but it's the YMCA, where they don't keep score and everyone plays. I dunno. I'm going to see how next year goes for him (he says he wants to play basketball this Winter). Anyway, he and this one little girl were almost ALWAYS on the bench together. I think they are looking for bugs here:


I took this one for my photo class, but I still think it's a cool shot of him running. That's his coach in the background:


He lost his shoe during the game... poor coach - Jamie's feet REEK.


See! He does actually kick the ball now and then!



I finished the final weeks photos for my photography class tonight. Just showing off what I learned:

Shutter speeds:


Fill Flash:


Lit / Buildings:


Macro (I need better lights)


Tom is gonna build me a little in-garage studio! Stay tuned for even better photos of him constructing stuff!

Oohh.. I cannot wait! That's always a fun time!

Soccer Cake, Chocolate Calendars, and Photo Class

Cassie's Fall soccer season is over. She had the BEST time, and she's quite a little player too! She will be doing indoor soccer in January. We had a little celebration afterwards with the team and we made a soccer cake. I took pictures of each of the kids, cut them out, glued them on sticks and here ya go... (Tom did most of the work, he rocks):



Tom and I have a running joke about CVS. He goes to CVS like every 2-3 days. He's addicted to CVS. And he can never remember what he bought. I don't go there often, but I went in for something and came home. I finally realized what it is about that place he likes. It has an amazing amount of crap. Just random crap. Everywhere. It's all just craptacular "stuff".

The kids have been asking me about their advent calendars. Every years, we get them each one of those calendars with the nasty chocolate pieces, they open a door each day until Christmas. Anyway... cannot find them, we have looked everywhere. I get a text from Tom "HEB is out, World Market is out, but luckily they must fall under the category of crap" *laugh* Thank you, CVS.

Some shots from my photo class. We did framing and shutter priority modes. The weather sucked and I was in a hurry, but I like the spin on the ball and my kids are already cute, so I'm showing them off too :-)

Decking The Halls -- and the Tree Topper saga...

---> I've been blogging like crazy this week, so keep going, there's lots here! <---

So, today was the day we promised the kids we would decorate the tree and house. We also said we'd do outside, but it's bitterly cold and raining, so they had to get disappointed there - we only have a few things for outside anyway.

So, I (even though I'm sick) take the kids to Target while Tom unpacks the stuff in peace - oh trust me here, if they had been here they would've driven him crazy - plus I think I got the better end of that deal. We were on a mission for a tree topper... the kids found one. I thought it was going to be WAY too big. It was. We get home and we were all dying laughing at this thing bending over and swaying back and forth. We don't have a tiny tree, but that thing was made for a Texas-Sized tree for sure!

So, we decide to ALL go back to the store and the only one we could find is this hideous silver thing, but whatever... it fits. Well... more on that story below with pictures to guide you. *laugh*

So, here's the pictures to share...

While Tom fussed around with getting the big tree set up, we got the kids busy decorating the little tree..

The stocking were hung with care (notice I have stocking hangers! I've always wanted them but never bought them) - Yes, Julie gets a stocking.

This is new this year... I thought this was a cute set... Daddy and Son bears going fishing. They are outside the door...

Another new one... look! It's Tux! On our fireplace!

Tom puts on the garland...

And the kids decorated it (with our help)

And the kids put on their santa hats to show off the final product...

Now, let's talk tree toppers... we have yet to have a good one. We have had a few hideous stars through the years. This horrible angel my mother gave me (sorry, mom, it was hideous). You'd think in FOURTEEN years we'd find one we like! But no. We are tree topper impaired. So, after the laughing fits that the big one entailed, we ended up with the hideous round star one that was a whopping $4 at Target. Whatever. The kids liked it and we have given up. BUT getting it on the tree was an adventure... what is wrong with us? What about those pictures with the perfect family with the smiling dad with a cup of cocoa putting the tree topper on with a flourish and the adorable kids standing by looking up in awe? Yeah, that's not us...

Here's Jamie showing off the atrocious thing...

So here's Tom "this will be easy, just sit it up there"... um... not so much, the base was too small for our tree...

Tom asks what we have to hold the damn thing up there. I go and get a binder clip (hey, it sounded like a good idea, stay with me here)... and Tom celebrates because it looks like it might work...

... and then it fell over.

By this time, Tom and I are laughing so hard we have tears just flowing down our cheeks and Jamie is doing his eye-roll thing which is supposed to be "my parents are so weird", but whatever...

So, we finally got it... how? Look closely. Yeah. Tom wrapped the top of the tree around it. *laugh*

But it's up there. And it's staying. And we have another hideous tree topper. But that's okay because we had a really good laugh about it all. Maybe next year we can find a purple one with gold leafing!

An actual post with actual words and lots of rambling

Yeah, so apparently this is just a photo blog now, eh? *laugh*

I'll post pictures soon of the tree trimming and decorating we got done today, but thought I'd ramble a bit...

Kids are doing good. They have their moments, but as Tom and I were talking earlier this week, we are so lucky that they get along so well. I hear these sibling horror stories and we just don't have those. Maybe it's because they are pretty close in age. Maybe it's because I'm such a rockin' mom. Okay, it's probably pure luck and the fact that Jamie is basically scared of Cassie - she's mean! But seriously, they are great kids. And growing up... way way way too fast!

I'm working more than I should and not sleeping as much as I should, but that's pretty normal. 127 days and my volunteer commitment is over. As much as I've loved giving back to my industry, I'm ready to get back some of my life now. I'm really really enjoying the photography class I'm taking at LVS. It was cheap, but I really am learning what all those buttons do!

Tom is Tom. Reliable. Cute. Funny. Weird. Sexy. All that and a bag of chips - just ask him ;) He's really stepped up lately, which is good because I've been pretty much chained to my office trying to get everyone fixed up before January hits and the entire world collapses. I hate January.

We are settling in as homeowners again. I don't even know if I shared or not... we owned a home many years ago but it was like... well, do you remember that movie The Money Pit with Shelly Winters from the 90s? Yeah. Like that. So, we swore off homeownership. We lived in apartments, but the kids needed a yard, so we started renting this house. Well, the landlord was going to sell it and we were so sad. We love this house. We love our neighbors. We love the neighborhood. We LOVE it here. LOVE it. It's probably the only reason I haven't gone off the deep end and insisted that we move out of this state - no, I'm serious. Anyway, we signed off on it earlier this year, and it's ours (well, the bank owns it now I suppose). Nothing major has broken... yet. We lived here a year and a half before buying so I feel pretty confident that we know all the good and bad about it.

Thanksgiving was okay. We went to Tom's mother's house for Thanksgiving eve and spent the night with his grandmother so we didn't have to come back home because we had Thanksgiving with his grandma. Then went to his cousin's house for dessert. Talk about whirlwind!

The good: The kids behaved, the food was good, the company was good.

The bad: His aunt showed up sick and now I'm sick - as a dog. She said that she wasn't contagious but in the next breath said that she caught it from someone else. That should have been high alert for me. I get sick so easily. Anyway... so I'm sick and it sucks. I was going to get the flu shot this week too. Ugh.

The good: We had a really great time at his cousin's house. We don't get to see them often and I forget how much I really like them.

The bad: His family cannot seem to honor the one tradition that we keep to. Yes, we are the annoying people that stay home Christmas Day. I'll run all over the place otherwise, but that's our day. Everyone is welcome to come visit us and they know that, we will be in our PJs and playing with Santa stuff and just generally relaxing, but that is our day, as a family. It's been that way for 14 years now. It's not going to change, but every year they pressure us about coming to their houses. I always feel like everyone blames me because it's a tradition that started with my family, but it's one that Tom is ADAMANT about these days, probably moreso than I am. He loves that time with the kids and the kids love it too. Anyway, it just always make me feel uncomfortable. The only way this changes is if we visit family out of town (like last year - although we have vowed to not do that again - too stressful).

I got it! I got it! I got it!

I hinted about it in a post below, but yesterday late afternoon, my Canon Rebel XTi got here! WOOHOO! I've been lusting after this camera for about a year now. I also signed up for an online photography class. I know, probably silly, but I do so few things just for me that are for me and me only that I'm going to take the class and enjoy the camera.

By the time the battery charged, it was night, so I warily took some indoor shots (my old camera takes really bad bad bad bad indoor shots) and lookit! This is even using the flash, so much sharper. That last shot... well, Jamie was tired of me stalking him. *laugh* So, these are just those first "test shots" - not too shabby for indoor and not knowing what I was doing!