Real quick

Just wanted to jump on here & list what I'm thankful for today.  I will post some new pics tomorrow from the big bed swap-out and what we did this afternoon, but I have to go to the gym in the morning, so I have to get to bed.  (It's going to be brutal, seeing as how I totally indulged in the laziness of being off from work, and didn't go one time last week.  eeeek!)

1.  Christmas lights.

2.  Playing made-up games with my kid.

3.  Tomato soup.

More tomorrow!  Off to bed!

[puff of smoke where Phyllis used to be]

Shifting gears

The turkey holiday and time off from work & school are slowly coming to an end.  [sigh]  It's been a great couple of days for everyone (well, except Aaron - poor guy suffers in retail this time of year) and the time at home together was good for the soul.  Here are some pics from Thanksgiving, which we had at my sister's house this year:

Dad's plate, since I didn't get a picture of the bird whole.

The Matriarch of the family.

Zach wanted to take a pic of me & Toni.

Becca, you always say I'm never in enough photos.  Hope this helps!

An attempt at a photo of the Fab Four.  Thanks Aaron.  LOL

The second attempt.  Thanks Ken.  LOL  I give up.

Hungry and patient Grace.

Eric & Z.  Eric said he was trying to suck in his gut for the photo, but couldn't.  

That's why Zach is looking at him like that.

Aaron and Maggie.

Ma's homemade apple pie.

Ma's homemade pumpkin pie.

Ma's homemade pecan pie, made just for Aaron & Ken.

Ken's famous from-scratch chocolate chip cookies.

French Vanilla Cool Whip - a gift from the heavens.

Not to leave our fur children (kitties & elderly dog) out of the festivities, I gave the cats some chunky chicken & turkey casserole:

And I gave the dog one of his favorites - homemade chicken soup - since he can't digest turkey:

As you can see, we had quite a feast.  We also had lots of laughs and quality time together.  It was a good, albeit filling day.  We were glad to get home to undo our top buttons and relax with the UT vs. A&M football game.  (Go Horns!)

Yesterday was back to work for Aaron, and after I recovered a little from my maiden Black Friday voyage, Zach and I drove down to Aaron's store to have lunch with him.  Afterward, we came home and played Wii for a while, then decided to go to Lack's and get that bed I wrote about a few days ago.  Z would be happy to report we will be picking up his new bed in 2 1/2 hours this morning, but he's still snoring his little heart out.  To give you a visual, here is the closest thing I could find on the internet to what we bought:

His is not wood, though.  It's black metal with chrome touches here & there.  I would've loved to get him this thing:

Two problems with this though ... a) it only retails in England, as far as I could tell, and b) it goes for about $500.00 more than we paid.  It's so adorable though, more my style.  I'll post pictures of our actual purchase, once Aaron has come home from work and been able to put it together.

Guess I should go wake up Zach now, since we have to leave the house in less than an hour.  Aaron's best friend, Jamie, is meeting me & Z over at Lack's to help transport the new stuff.  The sales guy said he wasn't sure if everything would fit in our Explorer, so Jamie's bringing his pickup truck.  Before I go, here are the things I'm thankful for today:

1.  Good friends.

2.  Thanksgiving dinner.

3.  Days off.

Until next time, friends.  Peace & pastries to all.

Black Friday

As most of you know, I'm not a shopper.  At all.  I go out and shop when I know I need something, or for someone's birthday, but even that is heavily pre-planned.  I don't get off on sales, nor do I feel that "rush" some women talk about when they've found the perfect pair of shoes.  But, I heard of a crazy sale on The Office DVDs, seasons 1, 2, & 3 at Target, starting this morning at 6:00am & decided to check it out.

I had no idea what to expect.  If I'm not a shopper on a normal day, you can only imagine my cluelessness about this day of insanity.  My dear friend Ken decided to brave the trip with me, because he said he was feeling like taking a walk on the wild side.  (He, too, was a Black Friday virgin.)  We live about 5 minutes away from Target, so we piled in the car at 5:50am and made our way over to what would be the most crazed thing either of us had ever witnessed.

I almost took the camera, but then decided against it last minute.  Too bad, because then I would've been able to show you what we saw when we pulled up.  The parking lot was entirely full, and the line to get in wrapped all the way around the left side of the building, back to the grassy field that sits behind the store.  Ken & I just looked at each other and laughed, because we were in utter disbelief.  How early did these people start camping out?  Really?  Just so you could get a good deal on a television?  Wow.  I guess I'm just cut from a different mold, because I value sleep way more than I do a good bargain.  We lingered in the parking lot because we didn't feel like hiking back to the most-likely muddy field (it rained overnight), and ended up getting inside the store around 6:15am.  People were literally running around the store, splitting up with the people they came with & then communicating via cell phone ("I'm on aisle E-9 - I repeat E-9!"), navigating their baskets like they were in Nascar - it was unbelievable.  One woman even clipped the back of my heel, because apparently, I wasn't moving fast enough down the main thoroughfare of the store.  It was almost like a movie ... Ken and I were just moseying over to the DVD department, and literally everyone else around us was in warp speed & blurry.  All of this, and Target forgot to flip the A/C on ... it was stifling inside this store.  Or, maybe it just seemed that way since there about 700 more people in there than usual.

I juked, ducked, and slid my way past enough carts to grab the three things I had gone there for.  I also had to grab some sugar, because we were out at home, and I hadn't been able to have my coffee yet.  (All of this, on no coffee!  Gah!)  Getting from the DVD department over to the grocery section was like a game of Frogger.  After I found the sugar, we made our way to the express check-out lanes, which were thankfully quite short.  The cashiers had their game-faces on, and had the people in front of me checked out & on their way in record time.  Within 2 minutes of getting in line, I was done, paid for, and on my way back out the door.

Whew.  The whole thing seemed surreal to me & Ken once we were back out in the open.  We looked at each other like, "what just happened?".  All we could do was laugh a little more, and discuss how scared we were at times.  The one item we saw everyone clutching was Guitar Hero.  I don't know how discounted this puppy was, but it was apparently enough to get everyone & their Mother out to Target this morning.  The people who had one were holding on to it like it was the Holy Grail, and I saw several people in line with nothing but Guitar Hero.  I guess there will be a lot of happy kids out there this Christmas, but I can't say I would've had the dedication to do that for my kid.  Sometimes, kids need to learn there are limits to what we can buy, especially if it requires Mommy standing in line at 3:00am, in the rain, by herself.  (You think Aaron would ever do this?!  Ha!  Notice KEN was with me this morning.) Not gonna happen.

So, I ended up getting three seasons of one of my all-time favorite tv shows for $38.00.  Not bad!

I'm glad it was relatively quick, though.  The bizarre, anxious energy that was rampant through the store was almost enough to scare me into never trying this again.  Ken called it estrogen, and he may have been right since 90% of the humans around us were female.  For now, I will close, enjoy my coffee [takes another blissful sip], and maybe pop in a DVD until Zach wakes up.  I will post pics from Thanksgiving later on today.  Need to go recover mentally at this point ...

Peace & pastries.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a busy few days!  Yesterday was Aaron's birthday, and we were still cramming as much time in with Elyssa as we could.  I finally have some pictures to post from my Dad's birthday, my parent's anniversary lunch, and Aaron's birthday.  Forgive the poor quality, this camera blows.  (No, I'm not bitter about not having my camera yet.  Ahem.)

Dad, unwrapping our gift.

His first glimpse of what it was.

His heart fluttering, as he saw the whole package.

The cake my Mom made him.

Letting Zach help him blow out the candles.

In case you were curious what we got him, I have a stock photo of that, since I didn't take a picture of ours.  It was the complete James Bond DVD set.  My Dad's always been a HUGE fan, but has only had his movies on VHS.  It was time to bring him into the 21st century, and he seemed to appreciate it.  A LOT.  :)  What guy doesn't love James Bond?  He's got it all!  The looks, the moves, the gadgets ... I think every guy wishes deep down that he could be Bond, at least for one day.  Sean Connery is my Dad's favorite bond, Roger Moore is Aaron's favorite, but Daniel Craig is mine.  [sigh]  If Aaron got to be Bond for a day, I hope he'd be that one.

Moving along to my parent's anniversary.  Zach and I took them out to lunch (Aaron had to work), and they chose Central Market.  Here are two pics from that afternoon:

Still has that devilish look in his eye for her, after 40 years.

The happy couple, with their grandkid.

Lastly, we celebrated Aaron's birthday with dinner at Zorba (our favorite Greek restaurant) and then went back to our house for presents and fried Twinkies.  Yes, you read that correctly - fried Twinkies.  Aaron wanted to change things up this year, so instead of a regular old birthday cake, he started browsing our bookshelves and my cookbooks for new ideas.  One of our favorite fun cookbooks is one that Aaron brought home for me a long time ago, and it's all about Twinkies.

We haven't tried many things in here, but what we have tried has been quite tasty.  Yes, we know Twinkies come with a stigma and with a general cringe from most people, but we fear not!  They are delicious and misunderstood, in our opinion.  Aaron flipped through the pages and stumbled across a recipe for fried Twinkies in chocolate sauce.  C'mon, admit it, it scares you, but intrigues you as well, right?  I know.  Don't worry, I won't tell anyone.

Ken & the birthday boy, at dinner.

Z & Elyssa at dinner.

I think he would be happy if they could run off together,

but that's another blog.

The birthday boy's in-laws, at dinner.

Zachary, thrilled that Daddy liked his gift.

A happy Aaron, surprised at his gift.  

And, Zach, not able to resist the urge to give bunny-ears.

And, last but not least:

The fried Twinkies, in chocolate sauce with whipped cream.

They were a huge hit!  Even Zach caved in and tried one, and much to everyone's surprise (including himself), he liked it!  They taste and smell like a funnel cake, essentially.  Just with whipped cream on the inside.  So, you could say they are like a cream-filled funnel cake.  Not bad, though I wouldn't recommend eating these on a regular basis.  I had to ask if anyone was having chest pain after we were through.  Luckily, we all came out unscathed.

That brings us to today, which is Thanksgiving.  I'm up early, to try and blog before the boys wake up, and to start my contribution to the Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's later.  I was assigned the green bean casserole & corn, so I now have to go make enough to feed seven willing adults, and one reluctant child.  (He loathes green beans.)  Toni is doing the turkey & stuffing, my Mom is doing the pies, and my Dad is doing the mashed potatoes - as requested by his grandson.  I have to admit, my Dad DOES make the world's best mashed taters, and we're all looking forward to them.  So, I'm off to go cook, but here is my list of things I'm thankful for today:

1.  Coffee.

2.  Having at least some kind of camera, even if it's crappy.

3.  Another year with us all together & healthy.

Until next time ...

Oh ... my ... goodness

Happy Monday to everyone! We have finally embarked on the week of Thanksgiving, and I can't help but be in good spirits. I have three days off from work, and my son is home from school all week, so I will get to spend oodles of time with him. In addition, we get to celebrate Aaron's birthday tomorrow, and let him know how special is his to all of us. I can't wait to get things started!

Off topic, let me say "thanks" to those of you who were willing to sign up for a Google ID to view my blog. I can't tell you what a weight-off it is to know there aren't potential freaks out there looking at my kid. [whew] I hope it wasn't too irritating to get my request, but please know your willingness to log in is greatly appreciated.

Aaron is off today, as he is each Monday, so I'm really looking forward to getting off work. We don't have any real plans, except to maybe go feed the ducks at the park, but it will still just be nice to be home and all together for most of the day. All three of us were quite a team yesterday, and gave our house a late "spring cleaning", in preparation for Elyssa's visit. She arrived safe & sound, and we stayed up till wee hours of the night visiting. Ok, to everyone else it wouldn't be considered "wee hours", but for this grandma who's usually in bed no later than 9:00pm, it was l-a-t-e. I'm so happy she is here and that we get some time to catch up, since she lives in Dallas. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures later of all of us, if I can get any decent shots with the crap work camera.

*Sidebar: No, I don't have my new camera yet. Conn's says they are waiting for the paperwork to clear at their home office. They say as soon as that happens, I'll get a call and will be able to go get my new camera. Catch is, no one - and I mean NO ONE - who is employed for Conn's can give me even a rough estimate on how long this will take. As I mentioned before, I hate Conn's. Grrrrr. Snarl. Grrrrr.

Moving on to lighter things & to tie in the title of this blog, I stumbled across a video on YouTube this morning, and just sat in amazement after I viewed it. It has probably circulated across the globe a few hundred times, and you may have already seen it yourself, but it was new to me and really interesting. To summarize, a group six young girls set up a video camera to record their own reaction to watching the results of American Idol this year. (I think this happened in April?) Granted, it sounds narcissistic, but that's pretty much what pre-teen girls are. Yeah, I remember singing into the handle of a brush in the mirror at their age ... you know you did it too. Anyway, their favorite contestant did not win, and they have a group meltdown in result. I can remember being an over-dramatic pre-teen myself, but I can promise you with almost 100% certainty that I never, ever acted like this. Mom & Dad, if I did and I'm just not remembering correctly, please forgive me. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70f0chZVudA

I tried like hell to embed this video so you could just watch it here, but for some reason, it's not working. It was quite the spectacle, no?

On that note, I will list the 3 things I am grateful for today:

1. Having a boy.

2. Private blogs.

3. Mixed berry & cream cheese kolaches. (Thanks Elyssa!)

Peace & pastries.

Weekend thanks

Yesterday was really busy, so I completely forgot to list the things I was thankful for.  Aaron had to work until 4:00pm, so Z & I spent the day running errands and hanging out with my folks.  I took them to lunch for their anniversary, then they said they wanted to come with me to shop for Aaron's birthday presents.  We ran all around town, though I can't list any of the places here, because *someone* I happened to be married to also reads my blog.  After a long day of shopping, Aaron came home & he, Z, and I went to Lack's to look at a new bed for Z.  We found a great bedroom set that he loves, so we plan to go back next weekend to get it, after the craziness of the upcoming week.  (Aaron's birthday, Z having no school for the week, Thanksgiving, and the Texas vs. A&M game.)  Once we were back for the night, we relaxed to the OU vs. Texas Tech game, and it was wildly entertaining.  I despise both schools, but it was still quite fun to watch Tech get spanked the way they did.  I was almost embarrassed for them, but then I got over that.  

My dear friend Elyssa is en route from Dallas right now to come spend a few days with us, so I have to get back to straightening up the house.  Z is also staring at me, because I told him he could use the computer when I was finished doing this.  So, here are the things I was thankful for yesterday:

1.  Central Market's Cafe & all the deliciousness that comes from it.

2.  Smelly candles.

3.  My iMac.

Lastly, here is my list for today:

1.  Spinach dip.

2.  My husband and his amazing cleaning abilities.

3.  Our Jim Croce's greatest hits CD.

More later.  Peace & pastries to all.

An average day

Not a whole lot going on that's newsworthy around here, so I don't want to bore everyone with mundane details of our days.  I'll just say a delightful cold front just came through, so we have a fire crackling and cozy jammies on tonight.  The high tomorrow will only be 58 (hooray!), but then it will jump back into the low 70's by Monday.  Ugh.  I'm still grateful for cooler temps & no humidity, don't get me wrong, but I can't tell you how much I love cold weather.  I was born in Michigan, mind you.  It's in my bones.  The heat makes me crazy, having no seasons gets me down, but for some reason I love & won't leave Texas.  Go figure.

Here are the 3 things I'm grateful for today:

1.  Chilly weather!

2.  Hallmark.  (yes, the card store)

3.  Melatonin.

Tomorrow is my Dad's 62nd birthday, and I'm so happy.  He's had many health/heart problems over the years, you see, so this is a true milestone.  Then speaking of milestones, Saturday is my parents' 40th wedding anniversary.  Wow!  They seem to be one of only a handful of couples that have actually held up their vows throughout the years, and made their marriage a priority.  They genuinely like each other, so they've always held on to their sacred bond.  No cheating, no separations, no mistreatment - just love.  This isn't to say they didn't have their share of learning & obstacles to overcome, but they did it with laughter and they did it together.  I love that.  I've heard that the secret to a long, successful marriage is not falling out of love with each other at the same time over the years.  How true.  I think it's that, as well as these twelve "rules" of marriage that Aaron & I have had hanging up on the wall in our kitchen since we got married.  They say:

1.  Never both be angry at once.

2.  Never yell at each other unless the house is on fire.

3.  Yield to the wishes of the other as an exercise in self-discipline, if you can't 

     think of a better reason.

4.  If you have a choice between making yourself and your mate look good, 

     choose your mate.

5.  If you must criticize, do so lovingly.

6.  Never bring up a mistake of the past.

7.  Neglect the whole world rather than each other.

8.  Never let the day end without saying at least one complimentary thing to 

     your life's partner.

9.  Never meet without an affectionate welcome.

10. Never go to bed mad.

11. When you've made a mistake, talk it out and ask for forgiveness.

12. Remember, it takes two to make an argument.  The one who is wrong will be doing most of the talking.

My dear friend Amy came over soon after we got married & saw these on our wall, and asked me for a copy.  I gave one to her, and she's had it up on her fridge now for years as well.  Granted, these things are easier to say than do, but it basically boils down to sacrifice.  If you picked this person as the one to spend the rest of your life with, they're worth it, aren't they?

To you, Ma & Dawd, I am so proud of you & the sacrifices you've made for each other the last 40 years.  As I've gotten older, I've come to realize that maintaining a healthy relationship & family isn't as easy as it looks, but the payoff is incredible.  Thank you for leading us by example while we were growing up - you didn't just talk the talk, you walked the walk.  Congratulations on 14,608 days (479.95 months) of wedded bliss.  I love you!

And thanks to the Lord for giving us another year with my Dad, for without him here, neither celebration would be as meaningful.  I am truly grateful.

Until next time folks ... peace & pastries to all.

Another three things

My hand is killing me right now, so it's difficult to type.  I think I'm having a muscle spasm, possibly brought on by bad technique with my weight-lifting or by not drinking enough water, but either way it's going to hinder my typing abilities.  Quickly, here are three more things I'm grateful for today:

1.  Water.

2.  Applesauce.

3.  Fabric softener.

Hope everyone is well.  And that my hand feels better soon.

Peace & pastries.

Three things

I still don't have much energy today, so I'm starting to think I might be fighting off something. I'm never usually this tired for no real reason, so I think my body is really trying to keep something at bay. Because of this, I don't have anything brilliant to say, and instead I will just post the three things I'm grateful for today. Yes, they are all food-related. I told you this would happen.

1.
These are soooooooo yummy.

2.
The pineapple is the only really good one from this line, in my opinion. I heart it.

3.
Lunchables, Jr.! This scaled-down version of regular Lunchables consists of mini-Ritz crackers, mozzarella cheese, and diced turkey. Personally, I think they make a perfect breakfast when eaten with #'s 1 & 2 - that is, if eating processed turkey doesn't bother you.

Hugs to all. Until next time ...

Someone's got a case of the Mondays

What a good weekend I just had. Unfortunately, by having so much fun, I neglected my blog and forgot to post three things I was grateful for on Saturday & Sunday. Let me catch up on those now, before I fall behind (again):

1. My parents.
2. Vodka drinks.
3. Date nights.
4. Fireplaces.
5. Movies.
6. Prayer.

Ok, there. Whew. Now I can talk a little about my weekend, then post my three things for today, and maybe by then it'll be time for me to leave work. I am so tired today, way more than usual. I think the relaxing, easy-going weekend really put me in the wrong frame-of-mind, because it's been torture trying to focus at work today. I'll try not to dwell on that as I type, but don't be surprised if I doze off mid-sentence.

Saturday was lovely weather, so we had all the windows open (the ones that have screens, anyway) and the front door open so we could soak up some fresh air. UT spanked Kansas, which helped keep the mood light throughout the afternoon. Around 5:30pm, Aaron & I then left Z with Ken and headed to the Night of Generous Hearts benefit & dinner.

My parents met us there, and we had many laughs while participating in their Casino Night and silent auctions. As many of you know, I helped create one of the auction projects this year (not silent, but regular auction) so I got a small case of the nerves when our item was going up for bid. Of course, my parents were amazing as usual, and ended up making the highest bid for my item ($250.00) and then turned around & gave it to me to keep. My parents & I had exchanged some emails earlier in the week about how I had been secretly wishing no one would bid on it, so I could keep it. I guess they took that to heart, and it was such a nice surprise. (Thank you again guys!) The other funny thing that happened was I got my sister to donate a Mack Brown autographed football to the evening's coordinator, and my Dad ended up winning it. My sister works at the UT Golf Club, and Mack Brown is a chairman of the board over there. Apparently, he lets her bring things to him once every couple of months and he signs them for charities, gifts, or her own personal stash. She was kind enough to hand over one of the collegiate footballs she had him sign a few weeks prior, and the woman in charge of this past Saturday's event ended up using the football as one of four prizes from Casino Night. Long story short, my Dad put his raffle tickets into the box that was for this football, and he happened to get chosen as the winner. We all got a good laugh out of that. I told my Dad to recycle it and give it to Aaron for his birthday in a few weeks. We could keep passing this thing around for years to come.

Sunday was very low-key, but still had beautiful weather and more time with my folks. Z went over to Ken's again, and Aaron & I met my parents at the Alamo Drafthouse Village to see Quantum of Solace.

It was great! We all love seeing movies there, though the food seems to have gone down a bit in quality. When there was only one Alamo Drafthouse here back about 10 years ago, the food was stellar. The pizza alone was to die for. But, ever since they started opening more up all over town, the food has progressively gotten worse. Maybe they've gotten too big for their britches? Either way, it was a good movie with good company, so we went home happy.

Now, I'm back at work, and it's been rough since I got here. My eyes have been heavy all day, and I've had to keep getting up to walk around so I didn't embarrass myself and pass out at my desk. Since I'm apparently not thinking clearly, I made the poor decision to get Taco Bell for lunch, which only made my near-comatose state of mind even worse. I'm practically drooling on myself I'm so tired, so I think it might be time for me to have another lap around the office. [yawn] Before I go, here's my list for today:

1. Aciphex.
2. Streaming radio via the internet.
3. $1.92/gallon gas.

Hope everyone is having a good Monday, and keeping their eyes open better than I am. Until next time ...

Peace & pastries.