These things May or May Not have occurred Over the Holiday

* We ran out of propane and had to call Hank Hill to refill our tank. On christmas Eve. Things were thrown.

* My mother's power was lost on Christmas Day due to a frying of a squirrel. She called the police instead of the power company much to my confusion, and fortunately our hillbilly relatives didn't show up in their RV to cook said squirrel.

* i made a kickass pumpkin cake.

* Having successfully completing the creation of 'bath fizzies' with her "Spa Factory" Rug placed said bath fizzie into a plastic container with a lid VIA THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE BOX and it immediately BLEW UP in her hand, causing a lot of screaming but fortunately no injury. Angry mom has already written a zero star review for Amazon.com.

* LP surprised me with diamond earrings in a Cheez-it box.

* I returned the favor by giving him the gift that keeps on giving....a Goblet with encrusted rhinestones that spell out "PIMP KING". Ohhhh yeah. Totally equal gift. this, please note, is after we both decided we were NOT giving each other gifts this year. I think he should be pretty damn proud to be Pimp King.

* I am not completely addicted to 'De Blob' on Wii.

* I can no longer enter Al's room, since the 'Jacob' poster adorning her wall is now following me with its eyes.

* Mo is still the cutest little bug in a rug I've ever seen. She has memorized all the words to "Toy Story 2" and now will come up to you, unprovoked and point and say, "YOU ARE A TOY!!!"

Happy New Year week, y'all.

SPF Friday -easy breezy

I sent out my cards this year the day after Thanksgiving. Why? I was in a car for 2 hours driving to an outlet mall, plus I wanted everyone to have my new change of address, so THEY had no excuse to send ME a card this year. Boo yah!

We took quickie pics this year of the girls, of course not without some drama. Here is the winning Christmas card photo:




and here is the runner up:


Clearly Rug has listened to "Christmas in Hollis" one too many times.

Merry Christmas yo.

a Major Award

I have finally been recognized for my greatness by Kelly, from KLOG (with the best taglines ever). She is fantabulous, and I am honored.

Actually I wrote a whole long post and then my computer ate it so this is my second try. Definitely will not be as long.

The rules are as follows, I must say something nice about my Man (what? What sort of whacked out award is this? I might be like that one chick who ended up not thanking her husband at the Oscars and then they get divorced...I certainly don't want that.)

Also, 6 things I think make up SUCCESS.

Lastly, I must bestow this prestigious award onto others.

NICE STUFF ABOUT LP: He centers me. I mean, when I'm acting like a fool, he will call me on it. Also when I'm freaking out, he, like I like to call it, 'talks me down'. Chills me out. Like the other day when someone drove by my house and their headlights shone into my bedroom, thus waking me up, and in my stupor I assumed (as one would, right?) that the light was an atomic blast and were were being bombed. He talked me down from that.

Have I mentioned I'm quite neurotic? I was half asleep, that is sadly my only excuse.

HOW I DEFINE SUCCESS: Pretty much 'what Kalki said'. But I can add that I think success is basically doing something again after you've failed. And failed. And you keep trying until you finally GET it. That is success. I do think that those people who think success is LOOKING successful have it all wrong. I believe that having your PRIORITIES straight makes you successful. In life anyway.

Now to tag. I would bestow the honor to two bloggers who already received it, that being Kalki and Susie whom I both adore. So for my purposes I bestow this award to:

Bente: Not even on the same continent and I would consider her my friend. Very nice, and her photography is amazing.


Kristine: She was the one who taught me about blogging. I found her through her hysterical comments on Dooce. she's like the cool girl in high school everyone wants to be friends with.

Circus Kelli: Only blog friend I've spoken to on the phone, and she is just as charming in 'real' life. Her minivan has flames. Now THAT is success, my friends.

Ahhhhh AFTER

also have i shown you my Disney bathroom???? i would not have done this on my own, but it was here, so I kept it, naturally.

BEFORE pics

The worst part about this green is that it looked PROFESSIONALLY DONE.

P.S. The 'bean bags' are actually "Cordaroys" of which I found on HGTV.com and promptly purchased. They have mattresses inside!

After pics to follow....

Days go By

I have been religiously getting up at 6 a.m. to run, so far, so good. I am amazed at how much I can get accomplished between 6-8 a.m. and my daughters can't even bring up their laundry baskets. "We run out of time!" Sigh. Time management, clearly, is a class I need to teach the family. Also, how not to wear white socks with dress shoes, that's a big one too.

Last week was the Christmas Bazaar and even though I'm working, I was able to pull it off. Yay me!

I am making scrapbooks for the older girls of their school pictures for Christmas. I hope it doesn't turn out like those weird gifts you got from your mom where she's all super excited and you are like, uh, this sucks, where's my George Michael tape? yeah, that didn't happen or anything.

LP actually wants to exchange gifts as usual this year, we have ALWAYS given each other gifts, regardless, but this year...I'm thinking we have spent WAYYYYYY too much money this year, it's time to cut back. Although I am sort of hoping he is wanting to replace my DIAMOND earrings that got vacuumed up by an 11-year-old whom shall go unnamed here....that would be nice.

Almost wiped out yesterday in the car from the ice! We saw FOUR accidents on the way to school, what usually takes me 15 minutes took over 45 minutes. I was actually enjoying the thrill of the swervy swerving, but I dare not tell my girls that.

I am attending a Christmas 'card' party next week, it's a yearly thing, we get together, eat yummy food and write out our cards. I have almost finished mine (although, if you want one, send me an email and I will send you one!) but I figure I can bring the scrapbooks over instead. She also liked TKW's Bad Christmas Sweater idea so we are stealing that. I have to go find one this weekend, and I will let you know how I fare.

I am *THIS* close to being done shopping. One plus to having 3 sets of grandparents...dole them out the expensive gifts and they will take care of it for us. Plus Fisher Price toys were Buy one get 1 free this year at the toy store so I did pretty well. If only Wii games would ever be discounted, I'd be set.

Oh, that's right, I'm supposed to be working. Next post? Painting the awful colors away in my new house. pics to come.

Mi little Mo

So you drop the F bomb not too often but often enough for me to be embarrassed, and though I blame it mostly on your father, who feels words can't be 'bad' so he uses it as often as ESPN.com, I have been known to drop a Bomb or two. Plus, I AM the Vice President of Swearing at In-Laws in the club "moms who drink and swear" on Facebook so I can't innocently say I'm not to blame, even though my preferred curse word is the "S-missle" and is usually directed towards the in-laws, and not 2 year olds. Or i use the term 'mothergrabber', a nice term your Daddy coined when your oldest sister was your age to prevent us from using the alternative, clearly showing what happens between the first child and the third.

Yesterday I went to register your sister for her new school, and when I turned to sign some papers, you had grabbed an ornament from the school office Christmas tree and shattered to the ground. Clearly assuming it would bounce, one would hope.

When we returned home, you found a box of Ritz Bitz your sister had stashed and proceeded to open it, pull apart the crackers, eat the peanut butter inside, and then smoosh the two crackers into the ground, as you were already sucking the peanut butter off the next cracker victim.

These incidents may or may not have caused me to drop the F bomb.

However, I am not writing them down because they frustrate me. As I was blowing bubbles yesterday and you were yelling, "Caught it! caught it!" I knew that these are merely moments in time and soon will be forgotten. Soon, you will be sitting at a computer typing away on email or something completely ignoring me. All you want right now is a bit of my attention, and I am trying so hard to give you as much as I possibly can. Every time I lose my patience with you I try to collect it back again because I know you will not get that excited about bubbles for very much longer. I know that soon bubbles will just be bubbles, and a broken ornament will just be a mess to clean up. Now though, it is a chance for me to interact with you, to teach you, to show you the world and how great and wonderful it truly can be. It's also allowing me to learn a few lessons of my own.

So I think the F-bombs are OK, as long as we don't say them in front of Grandma anymore, K? Heavens knows she's gone through enough lessons with me as her daughter.

NOT Negatorily negative.

Last night I was complaining that I had a pretty sucky birthday this year, and LP was refuting that belief. He said I only saw the negative in it and started calling me Ja-NEGATIVE which truly made me laugh. It's hilarious because I'm usually the positive one in our relationship, so whenever i say the least amount of stinkin' thinkin', he totally calls me on it. Apparently I'm the Rainbows and giggles in this household, and am not allowed to speak words that are not cheerful and happy. OK, then, I'll take that as a challenge.

I will overload him with Happiness and Giggles. be prepared for the onslaught!


My frigging Christmas tree is so great. I need to take a picture of how far away you can see it from the road. Like a mile! It's because LP put these funky blue lights on it and we have no outside lights, so it has become the Blue Light Special of our street. I hope no one expects a bargain when they enter.

I LOVE how Mo repeats every last word we say. I could talk to her for 10 minutes straight, and she will grab onto that LAST word and repeat it, like a question. Such as "I believe that the world is coming to an end." Her: "END??" "Mommy drinks to have a drink" Her: "Drink?" "When I was little, I used to think I was going to be a special effects artist, and go to Hollywood and do the gory makeup for scary movies. I was always into that and the coolest makeup I though was from American Werewolf in London." Her: "London? Mommy Hot dog!" (Hot dog is what she calls Mickey Mouse, and unless you have a child who watches the 'new' Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, you will not understand why)

OK that is all the positive ness you're going to get from me today. Maybe I'll go spread some happiness to my twitter pals.

No Janegative for me, it's Janeverbenegative for me!

Naturally

Annual Christmas Dance for you from the Say Qua Girls

Turkey Weekend

I had a surprisingly enjoyable weekend. Thanksgiving was busy, and the food was delicious. NO DRAMA! Which is the sweetest part of it all.

Friday morning I got up early to head to Wal-Mart in search for a good deal on a new camcorder, and a few Christmas gifts. Now that we live in the sticks, we are closer to the SUPER Wal-Mart even further away, and I was hoping it would be less crowded than the one I used to go to. I was totally right, and it was awesome. I got two of the 'doorbusters' that I hoped to get even though it was already 7:30 a.m. I did witness my first Black Friday fight, in electronics naturally. Some woman claimed another woman took something out of her cart, and it was free for all. I backed away quickly, singing "We Wish you a Merry Christmas!" as I got outta there.

I found the checkout near the garden area with no line so I didn't even have to wait in LINE! It was great. I got home, ate some breakfast and left with the in-laws to drive 2 hours to an outlet mall for more shopping. We go every year, stay in a hotel and get away from my kids for 24 hours. It was nice, and I got some great deals. can you say fleece pullovers at Old Navy 2 for $10? Oh yeah!

Of course now we are knee deep in stomach flu and both the kids are home sick today, but the next 3 weeks there is no soccer, little homework and a lot of Christmas cheer. I can't wait.

One more thing, I found out LP's uncle is going to be on Reno 911! Isn't that cool? I'm almost famous.