Merry Christmas Eve!

Well, you know I'm not going to be blogging tomorrow- I can barely manage to blog once a month! But I wanted to wish everyone an early "Merry Christmas". I am definitely looking forward to tomorrow morning; it's Kenzie's first Christmas where she knows who Santa is and why he stuffs himself down people's chimneys once a year. When anyone has asked her what Santa Claus is bringing her, she has been telling them either "a cookie" or "a pink toy".

I'm also looking forward to tomorrow because it's one of the rare days of the year that I get to see lots of my family in just one day. I realize that there is a lot of traveling and a good bit of time is spent in the car, but it's totally worth it.

I never got around to sending out Christmas cards this year (shocking, I know), and I feel bad about that. Maybe I'll send out "Happy New Year" cards.

The day after Christmas is Erin's birthday (and yes, all his life people have given him a gift that's supposed to cover Christmas and birthday- doesn't seem fair, does it?) so happy birthday honey, what are you, like 38?

Just kidding. That's a little inside joke. Everyone who knows Erin knows he'll be turning 32. Again. . .

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Still catching up. . .

I realize November is over halfway gone (I cannot believe it is almost Christmas!), so I'd better do a quick post to catch up on Halloween. I LOVE Halloween. It is definitely in my top 3 of favorite holidays. I mean, what's not to like? It has dressing up and candy involved! Erin and I were invited to a Halloween party at his friend Linda's house. He was a Ghost Buster and I was a "tavern girl". The label on the costume said only "Gretchen", so I wasn't exactly sure what to call it, but after talking to several people, we have all agreed that I was a tavern girl. Linda went all out on decorations in her house and she even had a fog machine. It was super fun and we hope to be invited back next year. The picture above isn't blurry- it's the fog.

Next up, we have Kenzie's Halloween. As I've previously mentioned, she was a little cat with a sign around her neck that said "Free to a Good Home". This year she got really into trick-or-treating and remembered to say "thank you". She probably had 20 pieces of candy that night- a lot for a two-year-old!

In this one, I asked Kenzie to growl like a cat.

As promised, I am back to discuss some recent events. I think I can group these into "ways that I am terribly unlucky" and "reasons I am lucky beyond belief".

First up, the Unluckys. So, a couple weeks ago I left work and drove to Talitha's to get Kenzie, just like I do every other day of the week (well, except when Mom comes to stay with her). I went inside and was back out with Kenzie in about 3 minutes. It was super cold and windy that evening. When I went to start the car, things started going crazy; the lights on the dash and navigation screen were flashing and looked like they were shorting out and one of my blinkers even came on. Rest assured, I had not left anything on! And even if I had, I was gone a mere 3-4 minutes, tops! The engine wouldn't even turn over, but it was difficult to tell what was going on because I have a push-button start meaning I can't actually turn the ignition. My car has a fob instead of a key. As long as you are within a couple feet of the car, you can push a button on the door to lock or unlock, push a button on the trunk to open it, and you also start the car that way. Quite the little gem. . . until your car goes haywire and you can't even open your trunk. I realized quickly that I would need to call roadside assistance. I knew from having a dead battery a week after getting the car (that time was my fault for leaving something on) that Infiniti would simply call a local service to bring a battery charger, so I was positive I would be on my way in about 45 minutes.

Now, I'm not knocking hoopty cars, but what came to my aid was a circa 1983 Toyota Corolla with no hubcaps bumping some gangsta rap music. Fine. I was still confident until he pulled out some rusty, taped up, jumper cables that looked about 20 years old. The next hour was spent with him plus about 6 of Talitha's neighbors, all convinced they knew what was wrong, hovering over my car. At one point there were two sets of cables hooked to my car at once because one of the neighbors thought it was best to include his old Bronco to the mix of power. He wanted to "try something" that I had never heard of to get it to start, but I gently suggested that might void my warranty. The whole time, everyone there wanted to complain about how "if they made cars like they used to" and "if every darn thing wasn't computerized". . .for once I kind of had to agree.

Obviously, a tow was necessary and the Corolla wasn't going to suffice as a tow truck. 2 more service calls, and an hour and a half later, my car was finally on it's way and Erin was finally on his way to get me. This entire time (4 hours, add it up) I stood in the cold. Why? Because I couldn't go in while people were working on my car and I had been instructed to wait by my car so help would see me unless I was in an unsafe location. At least Kenzie got to stay inside with Talitha, so I didn't have to worry about her.

The next day I was informed by Infiniti that my battery had suffered a short. Fortunately, it was still under warranty.

This post is ending up longer than I planned so I will be quick with the next unlucky thing. This past Sunday when we got to church, they told us to take Kenzie to another room than the usual because they were singing with other ages that morning. We didn't think much of it so we dropped her off and went to join the congregation. We had missed the past two Sundays because of the weekend at the farm and Erin working. Halfway through worship, the little kids were brought in and stood in the front on the stairs to sing a song. I was so proud and excited I just about cried. Kenzie was in the front row and sang the song, did the moves, and danced the whole time. I even caught her eye once and waved and she waved back then kept singing. This is the first time she has ever performed in front of any group of people and she's two, people! I had no idea if she would run off the stage or start to cry, but she just did fantastic! I couldn't have been more proud!

You are probably wondering how this is an unlucky event. Well, the event itself was fabulous. The fact that I had just picked up my camera from Rock Island the day before and JUST took it out of my purse in the car right before we walked into church really, REALLY sucks.

You know it would be nice if I would post a picture of little Kenzie singing her heart out at church. . .oh wait, I CAN'T! I'll put up a recent cute pic of her instead.

I am such a slacker.

So, when I decided to do this whole blogging thing, I intended to post almost daily. Or weekly at the very least. If you have looked at my blog lately, you have noticed that I haven't posted anything new in awhile. I'm sorry for that; I know am a slacker and promise to do better. I do have a lot of things to discuss, but I'll divide it up into individual posts. Topics will include Halloween, the election, my 3 month old car breaking down on the coldest night we've had so far, and my most recent weekend at the farm, spent with Cara and our girls. The reason I'm not going to blab about these things today is because I like to post pictures. And do you know where my camera is? Well, until my aunt Deloris went to hunt for it, it sat outside in the grass for a few days at my grandmother's house (where we had our weekend at the farm). This is in Rock Island, a good 2 hours away from here. Thankfully, it has not rained or been dewy in the mornings and no wild animals had drug it off. I plan to meet Deloris sometime after TTU Homecoming this Saturday, so by Monday, I'll have some pictures. If my memory card was somehow ruined, I'll just be wallowing in self-pity and regret for being stupid enough to leave it in the grass. We'll see. I have posted a picture from that weekend, only because posts aren't nearly as much fun without pictures. This is from the camera Cara had. The camera that she was smart enough to take with her when we left Rock Island.

It is also my anniversary. I love you, Erin!

Stop the madness!!!

When it comes to sweets, I have zero willpower. I will eat whatever is in sight and not think a thing about it. Now, luckily, this isn't usually a problem unless it gets totally out of control like it has for the past few days. At work, we have a candy drawer. And it's a big drawer. Most of the time there's something decent in it, although it does occasionally go through dry spells where there might be a few peppermints and a butterscotch disc (neither fit my description of candy, by the way). Well, it's Halloween-time so the candy drawer has not only been full, but full of the good stuff: Mounds, Heath bars, Snickers, Twix, Reese's, etc. Most people might just have one or two pieces a day, but me? Oh, I'll have about 6 or 7, thank you. And it's not the bite size, it's the "fun size". Fun, indeed.

Monday was one of our doctor's birthdays. Of course we had the biggest sheet cake that Sam's Club offers. It had the good fattening icing, not the whipped, "supposed to be better for you" kind.

Thursday was Bosses Day, but we celebrated on Monday with 3 dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts because one of our doctors wasn't going to be at work for the actual day. I should also point out that we are celebrating again on Tuesday when all of our doctors will be there. We are having Salsaritas cater and I have been told that we opted for their dessert option as well.

It's Friday. One of my coworkers decided that what we all really need today is a huge pot of homemade spaghetti. So she has been in the break room making it for the past hour or so. And she bought bread (pre-buttered with garlic) too. It smells delicious.

What is my point in all of this? Well, the first pair of jeans I put on this morning "fit" but were absolutely not appropriate to wear to work, if you know what I mean. Clearly this is a classic example of a cause/effect situation. I have got to stop the madness! I am totally not buying bigger pants, so I am going to have to decrease the hand to mouth motion that is happening far too often lately. I figured it up and I ate about 3000 calories yesterday. You may recall that I am not quite 5'2 and weigh 108-110 pounds. . .for now.

The picture above is my motivation to do better. It's not my favorite picture in the world; I mean, my hair might as well be a rag mop and my left arm looks wonky, but I'm loving the fact that there is an abdomen with very little fat on it. And it was one of the few bathing suit pictures I have on this computer, so it will do. This is my goal, friends. Let's see if I can at least keep it under 2750 calories today. I mean, you gotta start somewhere, right?

Some pictures to share

After reading Cara's new blog, it occured to me that I should post some pictures of my family.

This is me and my awesome husband, Erin at Fired Up, a pottery place in Ashville, NC. He did a mug and I did a platter. They turned out great and we actually do use them at home.

This is Kenzie. She was the flower girl at Jen's wedding. We were nervous about her just turning two and attempting a walk down the aisle, but to our surprise, she did great.

This is my favorite picture of my two favorite people. I only wish I could see Erin's face in it.

This was taken at Mandy's house. Kenzie has Ariel mermaid fins on.

Just a follow-up from yesterday. . .

I was able to find the "scary monster" on Party City's website. Now, this may not appear THAT bloodcurdling to you, but it measures 16 feet so it's really big and the hands hang down pretty low. And did I mention it has red glowing eyes? No wonder Kenzie was terrified. If I woke up to that hanging above me from the ceiling, I would probably think it was going to eat me too.

My Inaugural Blog

You know, as much as me and Cara have talked about starting a blog, I'm actually surprised that I have waited so long. But, funny things keep happening (most having to do with Kenzie) that I must write down somewhere, so here we are.

Cara and I have talked many times about how there are so many things about being a first-time mom that people don't tell you- probably because in the grand scheme of things, they really aren't super important. Luckily for her, I get to find stuff out a year earlier most of the time since Kenzie and Anderson are a year apart.

I have pretty much decided that Kenzie's costume this year will be her as a little black cat with a homemade sign around her neck that says "free to a good home". We do have a ladybug costume if the whole cat thing doesn't pan out. Anyway, I took her to Party City this morning to find a set of cat ears and a tail. You would think that Wal-Mart would carry something like this, but their version of cat ears and tails are bedazzled. . . a lot. And we aren't going for "disco cat"- we are looking for "regular cat". Kenzie was very excited about this because I told her that they also sold candy there.

We go in, get a cart, and are looking around and Kenzie is being unnaturally quiet, but I didn't think much of it at the time. I was trying to decide between the 6 different ears they offer, trying them each on Kenzie and all of a sudden, she whips them off, throws them on the floor, and starts screaming "UP, UP! Mommy, I want OUT!!" while looking absolutely terrified. I looked around and noticed nothing out of the ordinary, as we were the only ones in an aisle filled with domestic animal costumes. Nothing scary. I told her to calm down and it just got worse. The screaming had turned into unintelligible hysterics. Again, I looked around and this time I noticed that she was looking up towards the ceiling (I thought she was just looking up at me the whole time). What was on the ceiling? Oh, just a huge super scary monster skeleton, draped in rags with a menacing open mouth and huge hands reaching down. Now remember, we are at Party City, not Walgreens, so this is a very realistic item. Because of Kenzie's screams, people had started to peek around the corners and I heard them saying things like "oh, bless her heart; she's so afraid of the decorations!" Well, yeah. And since it is the season for things like that, I'm trying to wheel her out of there asap, only to find that "scary monsters" like that are hanging from the ceiling throughout the whole store. Except in the wedding stationary, which is where we went for me to reassure her that "no, they are just pretend" and "no, he is not going to eat you".

Of course, in my rush to get out of there, I bought ALL of the cat ears and tail options I was deciding between. Now I have to take back at least 3. Fantastic.

I have decided against bringing her with me on that trip.