Presents

Christ. Family. Love. Others.

I wanted you to know that I do know the true meaning of Christmas before I began this post. As I sit here typing, there are four presents sitting in my living room. I love presents. Truly. Not your average love, but passionate-can’t sleep at night-giggling love. It is when the child inside of me comes out.

Since my birthday is in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, ever since I moved out of the house my mother would leave my birthday presents with me (to save on shipping) and expect that I would open them on the 16th.

This has only happened two of the six years I have been away. (Sorry Mom!)

After stuffing myself with turkey, I would say goodbye to the fam and proceed back to my apartment, presents in hand. I always have every intention of waiting until the morning of my birthday to dive in, but little by little those wrapped boxes wear down my resolve.

One year it was the Sunday before and I just opened one. The next was a week before and I opened all but two. The following year I held out until the day before, but just couldn’t seem to make it. The funny thing is, I wouldn’t USE any of the presents until my birthday, but I just wanted them open!

Dating and then marrying Ronnie has had a positive effect on this illness. (I actually think that I have improved because I have someone who cares whether I wait or not.) I have found the cure to be his knowledge of the gift. If he sees my mom or anyone else hand me the package, then it is safe from early raiding. If not…it’s all up to me.

Unfortunately, he knows about the four presents here, but what he may have forgotten is that one had the instruction to open on Dec. 1st.

Hopefully that will satisfy my inner child for 15 more days.

Happy Belated Birthday Karen!

Since we were at the cabin for the actual day, I didn’t get to post my birthday post until now. (I’m really sorry for the scare of no communication Karen!) I love my mother-in-law for many, many reasons. She mothered Ronnie, and goodness knows that would have been tough! :) She is one of the kindest, most considerate people I have ever known-I am constantly getting little surprises in the mail that she knows I just HAVE to have (who doesn't love those?) She is selfless and constantly looking for ways to help others. I have always felt at home in her home and love spending time with her and the family. Even though the first few times I met her I was using her house as a place to crash with girlfriends (back when Ronnie and I were just friends and not dating), she still liked me enough to let me into the family. I love you and hope you had a terrific day!

Thanksgiving Fun

Ronnie and I were able to spend Thanksgiving at my grandparent’s cabin, that’s right 29 of us bunked in the cabin. I should probably start by saying that if you are picturing a two-room log structure; you need to get that image right out of your head. This cabin is really more like a mountain home. While the outside structure IS made out of logs, it is three stories, has four bedrooms, three and a half baths, and can accommodate quite a few. 29 may have been pushing it, but we managed wonderfully. We ate the big meal at 1pm and were all so stuffed that when my Grandma started getting out food for dinner later that night, we all looked at her in disbelief for a moment, groaned…and then proceeded to fill our plates for the 3rd or 4th time that day (despite our straining waistbands).

Night-time was filled with screaming cousins, movie-watching and some kitchen crafts by the girls. Grandma taught us how to make beautiful caramel apples—seriously beautiful, like the ones that you buy in the mall. We also learned how to make chocolate covered popcorn (yes, it is as delicious as it sounds.)

All in all, we had a great holiday and hope you did too!

Guitar Hero Revisited

I have received complaints that the video of my mom playing guitar hero cannot be viewed. I have put the link below. Let me know if it still doesn't work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOgfR4PIkZc

The Softer the Better

Apartment life has its ups and downs that’s for sure. I love that it is affordable, basically commitment-free and that none of the problems are mine! If the ceiling caves in, microwave stops working, or fridge goes caput, I just sit back and wait for repairs to be done with minimal inconvenience on my part. I’m not quite as enamored by difficult parking, midnight vacuum sessions by the upstairs neighbors, and dumping my hard-earned money down the drain.

But most of all, I despise the lack of soft water.

My skin and hair know the difference and choose to share their dislike through itching, flaking and dryness (just dryness from the hair, not the other stuff). Because my love of soft water is a little on the freaky side, I have talked about it with several people and would like to let all of you (all 5 of you) know a little more.

Some people don’t like the slightly “slimy” feeling that is on your skin when you use soft water. You may feel that soap is still on your body. In response to this, I would like to propose that you wash your hands with soap under hard water until you feel you have gotten them clean-now lick your palm.

It tastes like Dawn or whatever soap you used.

Now, wash your hands with soap under soft water until you feel that you have gotten them clean-lick your palm.

It will taste like….the palm of your hand.

Contrary to your belief, soft water has removed all of the soap from your hand, while hard water has left a soap residue on your skin.

I encourage all of you to run, not walk to the nearest location with soft water, take a long shower and rejoice when you are not forced to put on lotion afterward!

Our Heritage

I was introduced to an entertaining site lately. In addition to helping you with genealogy, www.MyHeritage.com offers a celebrity match program. I am pleased to announce that I am a 83% match with Jessica Simpson. She is the celebrity that I my face structure most resembles. If you are as shocked as I am, don’t worry. I uploaded an additional picture to see what the difference would be and I’m pretty sure that it depends on what position your face is in. You know that you are curious as to who you look like, so go try it out!


I know you are all dying to know about Ronnie as well. Apparently his Mormon-ness came out in the picture I submitted because his highest match was none other than the great Donny Osmond.

Mmmmmm.....

On Saturday, Ronnie and I were craving a little BBQ and decided to use a buy one get one free at Lon’s Cookin’ Shack near our home. I am in LOVE with their rotisserie chicken! We ordered to go and once we received our food, we got in the car to drive the two blocks back to our apartment (I know we should have walked, but what can I say? We’re lazy….and it was raining.) We pulled out of the parking lot and down the street. As we were waiting to cross University Avenue I was startled by a knock at the passenger window. It was a Lon’s worker who asked if we were the order for Ronnie and handed me the spinach salad they forgot to put in the bag. What customer service! He had run out in the rain and knocked on our car window on the off chance that we were the people he was searching for. If only every store I frequented would have this kind of service.

A weapon?

The other night Ronnie and I were watching TV and I was laying my head on his shoulder. I had been in this position for a few minutes when he wriggled away suddenly and said, “Your chin is sharp and VERY dangerous!”

So if you are looking for something to chop vegetables, whittle, or wreak havoc in general, my chin may be available.

M&Ms

It was the year 1999; I was a sophomore in high school and pretty much the coolest girl ever. But this post is not about me….it is dedicated to my younger sister, Erica. She is just two years younger than me, and is fortunate enough to look nearly exactly like me. (just kidding, Erc!) Erica was in 8th grade and also a very cool girl. She was sitting in her drafting class talking to the boy next to her (BNTH), when the subject turned to music. The conversation went something like this:

BNTH: “So have you heard about Eminem, the new white rapper?”

Erc: “Uh….no, M&Ms have a brown wrapper.”

BNTH: “No, I mean Eminem, the new white rapper.” (I’m sure this was accompanied with some “ghetto” like hand motion)

Erc: “I just bought some at the store, and they had a brown wrapper!”

A few sentences later, Erica finally figured out that Eminem was indeed a new white rapper, but ever since that time, I can’t buy any form of M&Ms (brown, yellow, blue, or cream) without chuckling to myself in the candy aisle.

That sewing machine IS getting some use!

Cheryl asked me to create a cheap and cute pumpkin outfit for Halloween. After perusing the internet for some general ideas, we ventured off to Joann’s Fabrics to see what inspiration would hit us there. Luckily, I was able to come up with a suitable idea for a mere seven dollars. Then it was off to my house to sew the bad-boy together. Below you will see the finished product. The hat was the best part.

Cheryl was a pumpkin and Scott was the mathematical symbol pi. Get it? To clarify: They are holding their nephew, they do not have a baby.