Thursday Thirteen #15

I can't believe I forgot my Thursday Thirteen this week! Wah! So here's my lame list of:

13 random oddities or non-oddities, whatever:

1. A store in Washington, D.C. was selling jelly shoes (scroll down for picture). I have already stated my views on the whole sweater with a belt thing and I feel the same about jelly shoes. Didn't we leave all this back in the 80's? Did I not get enough blisters from jelly shoes back then when the little thingies would rip at the toe? Why are these a good idea again? Who is doing this to us?

2. It's sweater weather in Florida! Yippee! I miss cold weather.

3. Poops is crawling! Yay!!! Must baby-proof stat! Anyone know how to babyproof a rigid stone fireplace?

4. Why is it that while he's surrounded by a zillion toys, it never fails that he completely ignores them, heads to the edge of the little area rug we have, lifts up the corners, puts the edges in his mouth and licks the bottom of it? No matter how many times you tell him no? Gross.

5. We have a zillion gajillion solicitors in our neighborhood and today I drove around the neighborhood until he got around the corner so he wouldn't see me pull into the driveway.

6. It's so hard to stay on the wagon when my mom makes her delicious short ribs. I must have them.

7. I am in desperate need of a pedicure. You can file that under TMI.

8. I have gotten two migraines in two days and I can't stand it.

9. I don't know what to make for dinner tonight.

10. We have a three-hour long homeowner's association meeting on Saturday afternoon. We are supposed to vote on some stuff. That is the longest meeting I've ever heard of.

11. Egad! I just realized I have to wash my floors and vaccuum if Poops is going to be all over the place!

12. What am I going to make for dinner???

13. My best friend is in town and we're going to tea tomorrow. I love tea and pink and being girly.

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

YAY! YAY! YAY! CRAWLING! YAY!!

I didn't miss it after all! OK, I did miss the initial crawl because he started the second I dropped him off at my mom's house and she called me and I turned around and sped home but I got it on camera, sweet! Here's the video:crawling.avi and it takes a little while to load but eventually it will, i swear!

Getting Carded

I rejoiced when a cashier at Publix recently carded me for wine because as the times become few and farther between I know my "getting-carded-days" are numbered. I think I may have actually thrown my arms up in the air and yelled "Thank You" when she carded me because it had been such a long time. And she, who was at least in her 50's said, "Trust me, you never know which time will be your last. Enjoy it." That was about a month ago. I haven't been carded since. Yet. And at 31, I am scared to DEATH about not ever getting carded again. It's one of the first obvious signs of the fact that I am (shudder) aging! And now I must face this! I have always looked young, and in my youth, (I could kick myself now) I hated that because people would always think me much younger than I was, and older guys wouldn't take me seriously. But getting older, it has been somewhat of a sigh of relief and a crutch, if you will, and it has helped me to continue getting carded in my 30's, which I relish. But there are these times, where, to someone else, there's no question that I am no longer that strapping little fresh-faced 2o-something, like on New Year's Eve, when the four of us "parents" went to the obvious college crowd Irish Pub and the bouncer looks at us while we take our ID's out and just matter-of-factly says, "Put em away, come on in" and doesn't even give our lonely, neglected ID's a thought or a gratuitous glance. When is the last time you got carded? Do you still get carded? When will the last time I get carded be? I fear it is close.

Back In the Saddle

A long weekend over, I am proud to say that my luggage has been emptied and stored and my laundry is already in the dryer. Yippee!! I am only rejoicing in this moment because I usually "live" out of my suitcase until everything has been worn a couple times and cannot be recycled for even one more wear and you can't tell which articles are clean or dirty and the suitcase itself looks like it has thrown up on my floor. Not today, suitcase! For the first time in my life, I have effectively unpacked in a timely manner! Yay, me! So we're back at it, with the lovely, classic, household duties abound, like washing the floors and putting new sheets on the bed and food shopping. Isn't life exciting? I guess that those fun items would be a great topic for "Tackle It Tuesday" but I have vowed to scale back on the number of meme's I partake in, and have widdled the list down to Thursday Thirteen because when I started doing "Wordless Wednesday" and "Tackle It Tuesday" in addition to the Thursday Thirteen, I had learned there was also a "Landscape Sunday" that I actually considered and realized I could actually spend entire days doing memes if I was not careful and because I have such lovely duties and tasks to fulfill my days, Thursday Thirteen would have to be it. Happy Tuesday!

Snow Day-Yes! Crap Movie-No!

Sweet! I came up to DC just in time for snow. Boy do I miss this, the smell of wood burning stoves and dipping in to the Java House for some hot cocoa with our frozen noses, frozen faces and frozen toes. I spoke to my husband in sunny FLA and Poops was wearing his tropical-wear and they were grilling out, the boys watching football all afternoon (cute!). We're leaving at 4 in the morning to head back tomorrow, and holy crap I just realized it's almost 8:30 and I'm not packed and I'm not ready and I typed that at the exact time my mom yelled out with glee, "I'm all packed and I'm all ready!" Hahaha! What a fun-filled productive and simultaneously counterproductive weekend we have had, it was wonderful! My sister and I were rendered useless Saturday after a few too many cocktails Friday night, then we went and saw ten potential condos over the duration of the weekend and we think she found The one, we went to church, went shopping, had brunch, it was so nice just us girls. We had a double-feature-movie-rental extravaganza last night and saw Little Miss Sunshine, which was so cute and funny. But I feel it is my duty to warn you, we also saw "The Last Kiss", has anyone seen this? Zach Braff and "Summer" from the O.C. were in this. We were all excited when we saw it on the shelf because we thought it would be a lovely romantic comedy. NOT SO! It was AWFUL. Especially just the three of us girls watching this away from our husbands. I swear, there was a "worst case scenario" for each one of us and as we're watching it, we're each secretly thinking "What If" in our scared little wife heads and by the end we were exhausted and depressed and mad at our husbands even though they hadn't done anything. It was all about sucky guys, one cheats, another leaves his wife who just had a baby, and a couple in a 30 year marriage breaks up. If you have a relationship you are happy in or treasure even remotely, please don't watch this movie. You will think it is doomed after this. It was the last thing we saw before going to bed and we all had nightmares all night long. Blockbuster: I want my money back! Anyway, I'm missing the boy so much and I'm ready to come home. He has not started crawling to my knowledge yet. And he has reportedly been fussy all day and I would like to think it is because he missed his mommy. Don't I wish!

The Jelly Shoe Motherload

Can someone tell me when on earth these came back?

Astute Observations #2

Good news: Despite failed attempt at holiday dieting, still only require one seat on Southwest Airlines flight.

High Chair or Exersaucer, Please!

If husband could just keep Poops in the high chair or exersaucer all weekend while I'm gone, that would be great. We were so close to crawling tonight. So. Close. There was still a window for me to see it before I go. But now I am leaving at 8am Friday and the window has closed. He will wake up right before I go and then I am sure he will crawl at 8:01. I am wallowing in self pity. While watching The O.C. Which is completely tanking by the way. If Ryan writes poetry and recites it for Taylor, I will throw up.

Anyway, I've never been away from Poops this long. I haven't flown by myself in two years. This is a big deal for me. I feel like such a different person than I used to be. As a singleton I flew all the time by myself when I lived in NYC and Salt Lake. I flittered and fluttered about. Took trips with friends, drank life in. Made decisions based on how much was left of my paycheck that week. Life was so easy and complicated back then. It's still easy and a little more complicated now, but in a completely different way. A lovely way. I used to get so claustrophobic when people (boyfriends, friends, family) closed in on me and I always needed my space. Now I can't live without them. Any of them. I realize that more now being married, with a baby, with our parents nearby and I can't get enough of them, and I want to eat them all up. Life would just be complete if my sister and my best friend both moved back here. I find myself in such an unfamiliar place. I never thought this would be me. The family girl. But it is now. I love it. My how times change.

Crawling or no crawling, this weekend's gonna be fun! Seeing my sister and my mom and eating tapas and going to the movies and having Sunday brunch and getting our nails done. We're such girls. And flying alone, with my IPod and my book and whatever lovely Starbucks beverage I partake in and my new pink and brown luggage. I've left lists of nap and food schedules. Packed a diaper bag for my husband. This is a big deal for him, too. He hasn't taken Poops out alone once yet, except to the doctor, and that doesn't count! Not sure if I'll get to blog over the weekend but I'll try. Have a good weekend everyone!

Oh, and yes, Ryan wrote the poetry. Barf.

Some Shout-Outs While I'm at it - (Scroll for Thursday 13)

Oh, I added a couple of neato little sidebar thingies that I found while browsing other bloggers' sites and I wanted to give credit where credit is due of course. See that little word thingy on the side? That's really fun, Momma Bee had that one from "Snapshirts". And my little mood finder on the side? That one from the Irish Church Lady. She has a lot of cute little sidebar thingies and a great recap of The Office usually! Thanks lady!

Panic Mode (Scroll down for Thursday Thirteen)

As I sit here watching Poops rolling around on the floor, squealing and chirping and picking up my hair (I know, gross! I don't know why it happens but my hair gets everywhere! Even with my new Dirt Devil Broom Vac on the job!) I am in a complete and utter panic. Poops is literally going to crawl any minute. Any second, really! And I'm going out of town tomorrow! Noooo! He gets the legs under him, scoots just a little, butt up in the air, then falls flat and flaps his arms like he's swimming. I am excited about the near crawling, but he's so close I am afraid I am going to miss it! I am going out of town tomorrow and I just know I am going to miss this huge monumental feat! I am crying inside! I am going to DC to hang out with my sister and I've been looking forward to this trip for a while. Her husband's deployment has just been extended so my trip is timing out well. My mom is already up there and it will be just us girls, and it will be a blast filled with manicures, pedicures, delectible meals and hopefully dancing. But please, Aidan, for the love of everything, please wait for mommy to get back before you crawl! I have left my job to teach you and take care of you and play with you and to make sure I don't miss your milestones! Please wait for me! Or if you must crawl, do it today! Do it right now! I am begging!

Thursday Thirteen #14

Is it me or was there a long streak of crappy tv post-Friends and post-Seinfeld, and now all of a sudden there's a bunch of great tv? Anyway, here's my list:

13 of my All-Time Favoritest TV Shows Ever:

1. Seinfeld. My favorite. I could live on Seinfeld re-runs. Stellllaaaaaaaaaaa!

2. American Idol. Who can't resist the train wreck that are the millions who think they're the next American Idol but can't hit a note and flail their arms about? I love this show! I watch the try-outs then usually develop a lack of interest with the hundreds in Hollywood and start to like it again when there are about 20 left.

3. The Office. I watch this through my open fingers most of the time because I get so embarrassed by Michael's stupidity. This week we're celebrating "Oscar's Mexicanity".

4. Charles in Charge. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this show, but never got into it when it was actually on. I watched all the re-runs, kind of like Seinfeld. Where are they now??

5. Speaking of where are they now... where's my favorite cartoon 7th grader "PepperAnn?" This is the funniest cartoon ever and it's not one of those grown-up cartoons, it's an actual cartoon geared for the youngins with life lessons. It's missing now, and I've found chat rooms full of people wanting the DVD or something to whet they're PepperAnn whistle. Did I say that out loud?

6. Gilmore Girls. If loving Gilmore Girls is wrong, I don't wanna be right!

7. The Today Show. I've tried to not include this, but I'm hooked! I don't feel right if I don't see what the three top stories are, or what my husband and I call the "do do do" (like the music open).

8. The O.C. My favorite over-the-top a-little-too dramatic soap opera involving rich kids. They're canceling this show (shocking I know) but I am actually sad about it (even though admittedly I am sick of the re-use of all the plots i.e. conflict followed by Ryan punching someone.) I hope it finds a home on the CW. I'll still watch it.

9. Psych. USA played a few episodes last year and I was HOOKED! The funniest cop show about a pretend psychic who's really just really really observant, and helps police solve crimes. It starts Friday night again. USA Network, 10pm. Watch it! I swear you'll love it!

10. Best Week Ever. VH1. Hil-ar-ious. A re-cap of the week's news and events on tv and in Hollywood. 11pm Friday nights.

11. Hogan Knows Best. I'm such a sucker! I know! Who doesn't love the antics of these "natural" blondes at home?

12. Everyday Italian. Food Network. I have found so many awesome recipes that are now a part of my staples. Super easy homemade cinnamon buns that rock (used these for some Christmas presents), spiked iced cappuccinos, mini-frittatas are just a couple of them. Try these, you'll love them! Great for Sunday brunch.

13. Heroes. Returning Monday night!!!! Weeeee! I am very passionate about this show for some reason and if you don't watch it, I implore you, find the re-runs on SciFi and watch them and catch up on this show, it's awesome! So excited! It feels like I've been waiting forever!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Crazy T-Shirt-Head

I know, I haven't been on in a few days and this is the best I got. My mind is totally blank.
Yes, I realize this is lame. Put a T-Shirt on the baby's head. I feel like it's still the weekend, really and I am still in that post-weekend fog. We had some friends stay with us from Friday until Monday and today I was running around all day and we had a birthday party to go to tonight, so I feel like I'm stuck in Sunday and have not yet moved forward. My cousin is a cop, (or officer, rather, because I guess the word "cop" is derogatory, did you know that?) so I got him a gift certificate to Dunkin Donuts because cops like donuts, right? Hahaha! I really did. And about halfway to his house, I realized I forgot the card, and from where we were driving to their house there was no Walgreens, CVS, nothing, because they live in kind of a rural (beautiful, but rural) area, so I had to stop at a truck stop along the interstate, which had lots of Florida souvenirs but of course, no cards. So I bought a yellow legal pad and a box of envelopes and I made my own. This is the part where I realized that I have no skills whatsoever in drawing, sketching or any kind of art unfortunately, and the cop car I drew on the front looked like that car from Car 54. And it was all bumpy because I was drawing on the road. Hey, it's the thought, right? Off to bed now.

Stating the Obvious Rule #3

We have wild parrots in Florida. I love it! But note to self: do not stand directly under a tree full of them while trying to take their picture. Because this is what happens.

My Boys

These are my boys. Isn't this what makes it all worth it? Sigh. It just warms my cockles! Living in Florida in January isn't so bad either. I'm having a moment. Talk amongst yourselves.

Dirt Devil Broom Vac

I promised I'd tell you my thoughts on the Dirt Devil Broom Vac and here it is. This is an instance where the commercial totally worked on me. Here's the commercial, and I'm dying of laughter because it was actually on You Tube! HAHAHA! Anyway, I got it for $49.99 at Target, I called ahead for the red one and it was actually the only Broom Vac on the shelf so they held it for me. On the Dirt Devil Web site the vac comes in a bevvy of fun colors. I wasn't sure of the assembly, I guess I expected it to be somewhat elaborate like everything in the Mom World is, requiring multiple screwdrivers and wrong instructions. So I took the box to the couch with me and sat down in front of "You, Me, and Dupree" to begin. I was looking for the assembly instructions and there were none. I was miffed. Turns out you just screw the handle in and "Voila!" It's assembled. So you plug it in to charge, it needs 16-20 hours, and it can sit on the charger forever afterward in between uses. It's a little loud, but not vaccuum loud, so that's ok with me. I used it first around the cat box, which was disgusting. It got EVERYTHING! I used it around the cat dish. Once again, lovely! I am loving this. My long hair that collects on the bathroom floor (gross I know), it got it all. The only thing is that if you don't empty out the dirt dish frequently, it doesn't suck as well. But once you clean it out, it's good to go again. I read a lot of reviews that said it was heavy (no it is not, it's actually quite light), and that it didn't work on large areas (that's not true either, it's not supposed to completely replace a broom). I give this an big old "Christmas Story" A + + +. I can wash my floors then keep them clean with this forever, and as Poops starts getting around more, this will become invaluable. I love it. This wonderful, magical electric broom will soon take its place along my "favorite things" sidebar. FYI: I do not get compensated in any way for any reviews, I just want to pass along my favorite things.

A little while longer

Not minutes after the President's speech this week, my brother-in-law learned he was staying in Iraq just a little while longer. At least two months longer. My sister calls it a "do-over", remember when we were little kids and we could wipe the slate clean by just yelling "do-over!" You can head over to her blog and her post about the extension here. The Marines of the 1/6 are doing wonderful things over there along with all of our servicemen and women. Please continue to keep them and their families awaiting their safe return in your prayers. Love you, Old Man! Stay safe! And old lady, stay strong! We're always here!

Thursday 13-gasp-#13!!!!

It's been a very busy week for me post stomach thing having regained my energy and then some and going on an unplanned massive re-organization blitz, so that's the subject of my very lucky Thursday Thirteen:

13 things I did this week, and by week I mean since last Thursday, because my weeks revolve around Thursday 13:

1. Conquered a stomach virus with, sadly, no weight-loss benefits whatsoever. Pure misery, no food and no weight-loss??? Bugger! Bugger! Bugger!

2. Went to church, with Poops in tow, who was a little angel the whole time. Loved the singing, loved the reading, loved the repetitive standing and sitting. We were in the cry room just in case but I think we're ready for the pew. Or am I flying too close to the sun?

3. Bleached bathroom shower grout to a beautiful, sparkling, white that any mother and mother-in-law would be proud of! Also, made multiple guest bathroom improvements (see below). Although very time consuming, it was very cheap, and the bathroom looks spectacular, if I do say so myself.

4. Redecorated guest bedroom with new duvet, pillows, and hung pictures. Although, we are trying not to put too much work into it should it become, ahem, another nursery at some point in the not-so-distant future, maybe. Or maybe not.

5. Cleaned out office which had become holding place slash refuge for misfit boxes after cleaning of guest room. Let's not kid ourselves, a lot of the cleaning in our house has been the shifting of boxes from the guest room to the office to the garage to the office to the guest room. Must. Stop. Vicious. Cycle.

6. Cleaned out and re-organized baby clothing. No more 3-6 month clothes! Wah!

7. About a million bazillion loads of laundry. I have put away 99% of it right away, but I must admit there is one load begging me, looking up at me with its lonely laundry eyes, longing to join its brothers and sisters in the mothership that is my closet, and I just haven't gotten to it yet.

8. Cabinet containing wine and martini glasses and pilsner mugs moved and redistributed to make room for baby bowls, bottles, cups, fingerfoods, utensils. Sign of the times!

9. Cleaned out redicu-pantry and added a lovely, very useful lazy susan for husband's "beer can chicken" spices. Maybe you've never heard of a beer-can chicken, but I implore you, try it! My husband's has become legendary. I digress.

10. Made reservations for lovely February anniversary weekend at the beach. 2 years! Love ya, babe!

11. Bought a Dirt Devil Broom Vac that is charging right now as we speak and I am so utterly excited to try this thing I am busting, Jerry! I'm busting! I've actually had Ralphie-like Christmas Story daydream visions of the broom turning me into a fantastic wife and mother. I'll let you know if it works or if it's crap. But I will say, the assembly was simply marvelous. I sat down with the thing, ready for anything, and discovered no assembly directions. Turns out, you just stick the handle in, and voila, a fantastic (fingers crossed) magic electronic broom!

12. Re-upholstered two ottoman cubes with a lovely, chenille-type red fabric, so that they might become new, very fashionable homes to the massive amounts of toy buildup in living room.

13. Cleaned out disgusting refrigerator and the sad remnants of 2006. Ready for new, better, healthier and less sticky foods in 2007.

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Organizationfest 2007

I wish I had done this before. Do you have any idea how little money it takes to improve your current bathroom situation? Our guest bathroom was downright embarrassing (sorry family members and friends who have been so nice to not make any mention of this ever!) and I have been scared of it since we moved into our house a year and a half ago. I finally tackled it this week, along with a multitude of organizational feats I am proud to have embarked on and emerged victorious from (hall closet, pantry, guest room, office, bedroom closet, baby's room-apparently got my energy back after my stomach thingy), but my most proud moment came from this grody bathroom. Sigh. I cannot reiterate enough how much I wish we had done this long, long ago. Just a tiny bit of money and we've bought ourselves some time until we can actually do the big stuff (pedestal sink, new floor, new bath, new toilet, etc etc.) Here's what I did: Changed the bathroom seat from its older, 1980's wooden counterpart: $9.99. (Did you know they made wooden toilet seats? Barf.) Grout cleaner for bathroom shower: $4.99 + a little elbow grease. Well ok, a lot of elbow grease, but well worth the investment of time and 5 bucks. New showerhead: $29.99. Those, along with the deletion of the gross scummy shower doors, and the addition of a very cute plain white shower curtain, and a tiny bit of re-caulking (not to mention lots of "where's my caulk" jokes) and get yourself a magazine people, you've got yourself a bathroom that you might actually enjoy spending time in! That was $45 bucks and the result is priceless. Never underestimate the power of good grout cleaner. I'm serious.

Staring down the barrel of mobility

You're just so darned proud of yourself aren't you?? I went in to retrieve Poops from his nap and this is what I walked in to. He hadn't yet sat up by himself so this was a first for him. After that he wouldn't stop doing it. At bedtime after we read and I put him down, I cracked the door to peek at him, and there I see, his big ol' head in front of the little rainforest aquarium thingy on his crib, sitting up, playing with the bird and the monkeys. And an hour later, after our little game of up, down, come on sweetie go sleepies, up down, up down (I should've known better) he finally tired himself out. Didn't want to waste his newfound talent I guess! I don't know whether to gasp or clap, maybe a little of both, but sweet fancy moses, we're staring down the barrel of mobility! To the babyproofing aisle, troops! Arm yourselves!

So, About New Years

I love girlfriends. My best friend, Clairanne, who I've known since 7th grade, was in town for Christmas and she and I and our husbands got New Year's night off, while our parents were watching all our kids for the night. We thought real hard about where we would go(the possibilities were endless!), but we thought so hard that Monday turned into Friday and we still didn't have anything booked so we went with a recommendation of one of her friends and made a reservation at a restaurant at one of our trendier neighborhoods. As soon as we walked up to the restaurant place New Years Eve, I remembered I had been there before. It was the time when I was in my early 20's fresh out of college and still poor with my first job at a tv station at the bottom rung on the ladder and one of my co-workers and I went out for martinis at this place. It's kind of a jazzy, hip martini bar-slash-restaurant. At the time, it was way above us. We already had a few martinis and we wanted an appetizer but remember this is back when we were poor, and we knew that if we had an appetizer we wouldn't have money for a tip. UNLESS we used our laundry quarters for a tip! Sweet! Appetizer, it is. Yes, not one of my grandest moments, but our stomachs were full and we didn't stiff her, so hey!

So this is where we were for New Years, and as we walked in through the door, with a Donna Summer-like singer belting out some serious classics, and people were already dancing! yes, dancing already! The night was filled with promise. The hostess led us to our table and I stood there in disbelief thinking as I saw the back of her head flittering away...uh.. wait.. wait? THIS is it? This. is where we're sitting. We're literally right exactly directly in front of where the waiters and waitresses pick up all the food. No wall in between, the servers grab the food which could seriously hang directly over our heads while they're piling the dishes on their arms. IN the kitchen. It is a table with giant, wingbacked chairs, that looks like it was thrown together at the last minute and the chairs were pulled out from the back somewhere. When Clairanne's husband began eating his salad, I outbursted laughing because he looked so tiny in that big chair, and the table was so high up, and we felt like we were all at the kids table. Don't get me wrong, big huge comfy chairs usually make everything better for me. And it almost did. It became the novelty of the night and we were sorry we hadn't brought a camera (can you believe that! no record of this at all!) and after two martinis it became kind of funny. Until the real band came on. No dancing. No lovely donna-summer-like tunes. Hmm. How to describe it? A bunch of just over 40ish middle aged white men wanna be rockers stuck in the really bad rock of the 70's? Not the good kind. I like 70's music. One of them wearing a string tie. I can usually suck it up for any type of music. But we were all in agreement that we just couldn't this time. And it was the really obscure stuff that no one knew any of the words to. Actually, maybe I mean no one our age would know the words. But this was sort of the crowd that could deal with that, and I'm not sure what that means, but they weren't young, and they weren't our age, I guess they were older, in a weird sort of way. So we went to an Irish pub nearby, because it was popular and you could hear the crowd from far away, and this was at 10:30 and we thought this might be a good place to spend the new year. As we walked in and saw the very youngish crowd, the bouncer at the door waved us off of showing him our ID's and we knew we weren't really going to particularly fit in here either, but this was it, this was where we would stay. He actually took a look at us and said no, I don't need to see your ID's come on in. This is actually the place we would have been 10 years ago. We were at least 10 years old than everyone in there. A young man passed me and called me ma'am. I am a ma'am now. I had 4 drinks immediately.

But you know, we had our kisses and our hugs and watched the ball drop with the new youth of today, and we were with the people we wanted to be. My best friend, and our best friends. It was nice. But boy were these new year's events laughable, because aren't they all, really? We always make these plans to have the best night ever and it always turns into a airquote -experience-unairquote. Last year, I woke Evan up at midnight to toast our sparkling apple juice because I was pregnant and we stayed home. The year before that we went to Vegas and the milk in the mudslides turned on me before midnight and Anna Nicole Smith was there doing the countdown and Evan thought she was eating a huge celery stalk on stage when it was really a noisemaker. He was actually convinced it was a celery stalk and I had to show him the next day with the pictures that no, she was not eating celery during the countdown. I did one Time's Square new years, worked on the millennium because the world was supposed to collapse and I worked in news, fought with my boyfriend on at least 3 new years occasions, spent it with strangers in a bar in Brooklyn... you know. The string of New Years events are always comical to me in hindsight but as long as I'm with people I love dearly, I know it's going to be a good one. That's what counts, right?

So much to write, so little focus

I don't even know where to start, there is so much that's blogworthy, and I find it easier to play Thursday 13 than to sit down and write all the funny blogables swirling around in my mind. From New Year's Eve to New Year's day and beyond, I have to sit and write it all down. But I've been holed up in my house for the last three days with what I will only call for everyone "something stomach" and it's what I would call "not good." Period. And poor Poops has been playing in his little Dome tent thingy and staring up at me as if to say, "won't you play with me?" And I will try, I will play laughing games and clapping games and singing games, but my stomach will roll over and my head will split and I will quit for a few minutes before he looks at me with those cute puppy eyes and turns his face into a full smile and asks me in his own wordless way, play with me again? And we will do it again. And I will take a break. And the cycle continues. Today I ventured out for some Pepto and I could tell Poops was happy to get some much needed fresh air. But I broke out into cold sweats and had to get us home pretty quickly. Don't worry, I'll end it there. Anyway, I love being a first-time mom and experiencing all the wonderment of the firsts along with the little boy. It's truly amazing to watch him figure out a skill and literally practice it over and over until it is perfected and to see the progress. Every week it is something else. This week, it's his little pincer grasp. He's been eating finger foods for a while, but I usually have to end up giving it to him because he gets frustrated and starts to wail after about 5 little carrot pieces land in his lap. But now he's working on his "strategery" and if he can't get it with the one hand, he swoops in with the other and flails the food into his mouth like a catapult and it's hysterical to watch. And all this playing on the floor hasn't been all terrible for him, he's starting to do the "bounce" on all fours, so he may finally be trying to crawl, and I watched him for about 10 minutes trying to go from belly to sitting upright, and every time he'd almost get there, he'd topple over. Don't even get me started on the clapping! I just love this.

Thursday Thirteen #12

Yes, I know this has been done before but I can't help myself, some of the google searches that have led people to my blog have been pretty funny, so that's mine this week:
13 WEIRD, ODD AND MISC. GOOGLE SEARCHES THAT GOT PEOPLE HERE

1. Males Dressed Up In Tights. I forgot I actually wrote about men in tights. I'm not quite sure why someone was searching for "males dressed up in tights" but to each their own. I am not to judge. Or as Jerry Seinfeld might say: "not that there's anything wrong with that."
2. Poopy Art Sprinkles. I'm not sure what to say about this one.
3. Margaret Thatcher Underwear. I believe Margaret Thatcher was mentioned in one of my previous Thursday 13's used as a Mike Myers reference: Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day!
4. Lamosil. Another Thursday 13! on things I can live without, like those gross Lamosil commercials. Coincidentally I haven't seen these on in a while. Knock on wood.
5. Send Jude Law a Happy Birthday and Happy New Year. Hmm. Were they trying to send Jude Law a greeting? Or send a greeting with Jude Law on it? Anyway, I suspect they got here through my movie review on The Holiday, and I must say Jude Law was simply scrumptious in that movie and I am not a huge Jude Law fan.
6. New Mom Haircut. I haven't actually gotten one of these yet but as it's starting to take me a good 1/2 hour to dry my long hair I'm seriously considering it. But I guess the person searching for mom haircuts got here because of the time I accidentally, to my dismay, tried on "mom jeans".
7. Suggested playlists for labor maternity. I wish I could get in touch with this person! I had two of them, one of them with yoga music and one of them with total rock-out music. I figured I'd be in one mood or the other, and I went with yoga and it was wonderful. The other one made me nauseous. But I'd give her my playlists if I could!
8. Crazy Aunt Flow. Hahaha! This one cracks me up. I wrote about "aunt flow" in my 100 things about myself. It can probably be filed under the TMI category.
9. Decoupage. Not once, but twice! I guess it's not that funny. But decoupage is one of my favorite words. Mainly because it can be used to describe lots of different things. A decoupage, if you will!
10. Mom Jeans You Tube. Ah, the mom jeans post again. I suspect they were trying to get the SNL clip of Mom Jeans, which is hilarious! You can click on it to watch.
11. Baby Jack Baby. Possibly looking for something from the Incredibles? I'm not sure. Anyway, Poops dressed up as Baby Jack Jack for a superheroes birthday party. I use "dressed up" loosely, it was a tiny mask.
12. OK I'm cheating on the last two because I don't quite have 13 searches for mine, but when I lost my keys and was completely torn up about it (I think I had thrown them out) I googled "Where are my keys?" hoping to find the answer and you wouldn't believe how many funny articles and/or blogs I found. Anyway, google didn't offer me any answers as to where my keys were, which I had hoped that maybe the planets would align and send me a sign through google but they didn't, and I shelled out a couple hundred dollars to have the keys re-digitized. Thanks a lot, google!
13. Last one belongs to my sister at http://www.oldmanhancock.blogspot.com who google searched "diced ham" yesterday to find a picture of it for a post and it cracked me up when she told me she found tons of pictures of it and here is the picture she used:

You can google anything! Isn't it magical?

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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I'm It!

OK! I've been tagged by Robin so here goes, sorry it took me so long! 5 things you may not know about me although after reading hers which are very humorous, I am not sure I can come up with 5 things that aren't totally lame but I'll try:

1. I hate raisins. HATE them. But I LOVE Raisinettes, and Raisin Bran, which I have found, doubles as a great dinner. I don't know why raisins are acceptable to me in these forms, because the thought of raisins actually makes me want to barf.
2. My favorite sport ever is baseball and I've played it since I was really young and was very often the only girl on all-boys' teams in little league. I tried out for the boys Junior Varsity baseball team in 9th grade. My boyfriend who was a senior broke up with me. Jerk.
3. I have a huge fear of public speaking. Even among small groups in a meeting. Or saying grace. Wherever eyes are on me and everything stops and I hear the sound of my own voice. It's actually quite odd because I am usually the "outgoing" one in the group. But when I'm put on the spot in a group, I picture what people might be seeing or thinking while listening to me, and I become acutely aware of my own voice, then I blank and freak out. I took a performance class once in college and I had to "act out" a poem, "Dancing on the Grave of a Son of a Bitch" which was a really great and animated poem, I remember a lot of it still. But halfway through my performance, I became aware of the "eyes" on me and got lost and stopped. My teacher told me to keep going, even improvise if I wanted to, and instead, I fled! I fled the class! I got a C which was very generous. I still can't believe I left. I think about that all the time. I think about doing toastmasters one day. Did you know they have some classes at 7:45 am??
4. I get scared really easily. I used to think it was just because I was really jumpy. It probably is partly that, but a bigger part of it is that while I'm doing something, I tend to block everything out and be completely in my own world. I could be putting on my makeup and Evan will come into the room and be walking the whole way so that I should be able to see him coming in the mirror, but I'll only see him at the last minute and jump a mile. I'll be thinking about some conversation I had or what I should wear or when I should do this or that. He'll talk to me outside the shower without warning and scare the crap out of me. He now resorts to yelling "husbands are moving!" as he walks around the house so he can warn me of his whereabouts. It has actually gotten so bad that my towel upon my head has even scared me...I saw a part of it in my periphery and jumped and it turned out to be part of the towel.
5. I dream in plots. Not all the time, but a lot of it. I once saw a commercial I think it was for a Volkswagon that asked "do you dream in color?" and I thought, that's really interesting, and tried to remember that after one of my dreams and yes, I do. I used to write short stories from my dreams in college. I dreamt once that a plane I was on crashed, I even remember where I was sitting on the plane, which seat and everything. The pilot had to crash-land our plane on a winding mountain road and we were safe, but at the last minute the pilot had a change of heart and drove us right off the side! So the next thing I know, I'm walking up to a big burnt out spot on a field where there are flowers and memorials and there is a media trailer nearby where all of my co-workers who were covering the story were congregating. And I went into the trailer, but no one could see me and I realized it was because I was dead. Shortly after, I figured out that someone could see me IF they wanted to, and if they happened to be looking in my direction but both of those things had to happen at the same time or it wouldn't work. And I learned that my job as a dead person was to try and get that to work, so that I could tell the world that the plane crash wasn't a horrible accident. That it was pilot suicide. And then I would get to go to heaven. It's probably been a good 8 years since I dreamt that and I still remember every detail. Anyway those are my 5 things! I'm tagging Connie and Anna Mary! You're it!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

The new year is always a time of reflection for me mostly because I cannot believe -whoosh!- an entire year has passed and it just went so fast! Every year at the beginning I sit here and think, I wonder what will happen this year. And then I look back and think, holy crap, I never saw that coming! So here's to a happy and healthy 2007 for all of us. May nothing take us completely by surprise (in a bad way of course, good surprises are always welcomed!) May we make good choices and rebound happily from the bad. May we love, play, dance, hug, kiss, pray, laugh, and cry as hard as we can. And may we never have to watch two males in yellow miner outfits pair skating on the Today Show ever again.

CHEERS! HAPPY 2007!

Christmas Day-a little belated

A little late out of the starting gate for the Christmas Day post, but you know how it is, the next day completely exhausted and spending the entire day after Christmas in pajamas only to shower at 8 pm and change into a new pair of pajamas. Oh. That's just me? Bugger. My motivation has been at a standstill since Christmas, really. And I had such high hopes for getting stuff done the week after Christmas! Oh well. Anyway, Christmas morning, Poops was getting pretty good at eating the wrapping paper i mean opening his own presents, he got the little people farm from santa and a bunch of books and some other fun toys.

Then we went to my parents' house where Santa made a very special stop to see all the little boys (we have no girls in our family, it's pretty funny especially because all of us girls are really girly girls and we have an entire team of baby boys. It's ironic, I know, but boy do we love our boys!). Below is Santa! And you probably can't see it, but those bells he's holding up are actually caught in his beard which could have been disastrous but thankfully it wasn't.
That's little Anthony with Poops, he's about a month older and the cutest little thing ever! He has the tiniest mouth and he reminds me of that little old man who dances around in the Six Flags commercials. There were three other little boys hiding in the wings who wouldn't go near Santa, but they did love the presents. A good time was had by all. LOVE the fake fireplace in the corner. Santa did such a good job! We hope to make this one of our new traditions.

And here it is! The Christmas Babyfest 2006!

Thursday Thirteen #11

Thirteen Christmas gifts that were given to me or my family, or that we gave to someone else:

1. My husband and I do "date night" every Friday night and for Christmas, my sister gave us a compilation of gift cards for date nights, some of them for restaurants and one of them for Victoria's Secret (ooh la la!)
2. An awesome piggy bank for Poops from my cousins. I got my cousin a piggy bank for her son at her babyshower six years ago and she loved it and her son still uses it. I've been looking for the perfect piggy bank for Poops, but I just haven't found it. Until Christmas!! Thanks Joy! It's so cute, and it has his name on it. This is the best!
3. We gave my dad an IPod for Christmas, and we had it engraved with his name, and the message: "My kids love me". He's a "writes his name on everything" guy, and we knew he'd have taken a permanent marker to his IPod so we took preventative measures. (All of my dishes and sheets were sent to college with me with my name on them.) The engraving made him all teary eyed which in turn made us all teary eyed. It was a moment.
4. Two "Grandma's First Christmas" ornaments for Poops' grandmas. Did you even know they had these? They're too cute. (By the way, ornaments are having the best year ever, we also gave my dad a deer with a rifle ornament, because my dad likes to hunt.)
5. A book of "101 ways to use your Turkey Fryer". I gave this to my husband because we got a turkey fryer for Thanksgiving and we don't know what to do with it till next year. I just found out you can fry ice cream in it! Sweet!
6. The Little Mermaid Special Edition DVD. I gave this to my sister and my husband gave it to me! Yay! and Double Yay! We came home Christmas day and watched it. LOVE this movie! Yes, secretly I'm still 11 years old.
7. Ralphie in the Bunny Suit ornament (from A Christmas Story). My sister gave me the Ralphie ornament, and the funny thing is, I found a talking Christmas Card with a picture of Ralphie in his bunny suit on the front and gave it to her. We opened these at the same time on Christmas, BY ACCIDENT! Scary.
8. A blanket for my sister with a big US Marines logo on one side, and her favorite picture of her husband on the other (he's in Iraq right now). First of all, the man who owns the web site I ordered it off of, ROCKS. Here is the Web site. He went through great lengths to help me find the perfect picture that would work for the blanket and worked on it with me at 9pm on a Sunday! He always got right back to me, and it shipped with plenty of time before Christmas. Anyway, the blanket is super comfy, and my sister loves it. She says it will be good for when she misses him, AND when she's mad at him. HAHA! I told her she can drape it over a chair and when she gets a new outfit, give him a fashion show. My husband says the blanket will probably respond by making a comment like "how much did THAT cost!"
9. Twas The Night Before Christmas Book for Poops. I love this story and my cousin got him this. We also got him a ton of other books because I'm making him a library. I love books.
10. Speaking of books, I got the new Michael Crichton book, "Next". I love Michael Crichton, and with the exception of The Great Train Robbery, I think I've read all his books. A wonderful mix of thriller and science.
11. A gift card for I-tunes. Hi. I'm Christie. And I'm a (gasp) I-Podaholic.
12. I gave Poops and husband matching shirts: Poops a onesy that says "I Pooped" and my husband a T-Shirt that says "I'm Pooped". I know, it's corny. I love it.
13. My favorite gift of all came from my sister and I cried my eyes out when I opened it because it was beautiful and wonderful and I never expected it in a million years. She wrote a card to Poops, telling him that he's our wonderful little happy miracle, and that she donated $150 dollars to The March of Dimes in his name. It was so sweet. I can cry right now just thinking about it. Thank you Anna Mary. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Cheers to a happy, healthy and wonderful new year!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Dad and the giant cake and other random pictures

The giant icing-laden confection that was my dad's cake looked less like a cake and more like a giant flame walking toward him. A three layer german-chocolate cake with what had to have been a million candles on it. Just kidding pops! But really, we may have put too many candles on it, because the whole top layer was full of melted wax. Oops. And there was a suprisingly significant amount of heat rising up from it as Evan walked with it across the house. Happy Birthday Poppy!

Above is Aidan, under the mistletoe. Below is my 91 year old grandmother at her holiday party, looking quite festive I must say! Isn't she the cutest???
And finally, neon pajamas. Apparently, I once wore these as a baby myself. But that was in the 70's and I guess that was the style. I do have to say Aidan looks like a baby traffic cone in these and they crack me up. I think they might glow in the dark. He might be his own nightlight.

The Art of Baking

It's a time-honored tradition for the women in our family to bake cookies every year and this year, my sister, mom and I were back at it, dancing in the kitchen to Christmas music, and poring over the cookie cutters and the dough and the sprinkles. It was one of the zillion things we tried to pack into a two-day period. Bake cookies, celebrate dad birthday, finish Christmas shopping, go to Grandma's holiday party, bake cinnamon buns, finish wrapping, you know, the winding down of Christmas where you have vowed not to end up at the mall on Christmas eve but what do you know, you're there anyway because that's what happens. We have cookie baking down to a science, even having found the plates and the cellophane wrapping for the packaging really early this season and that never happens, it's always all sold out by the time we get around to buying it. But something peculiar happened to our cookies this year and we swear it wasn't our cookie-baking skills, we believe with our full hearts it was the weather, in which the heavy Florida mugginess and ridiculous heat somehow seeped into the kitchen and penetrated our cookies. Here are our sad chocolate chip cookies.




Our butter cookies, however, seemed to have a banner year, and for that we are proud. But the oatmeal cookies, seemingly perfect when removed from the oven, a perfect combination of chewy and crispy at the same time, turned back into a crumbly oatmeal surprise by morning. It still tasted good, but you had to eat it out of a bowl if you wanted a cookie. Poops sat nearby with his own cookie cutters, having a blast all to himself.

A FESTIVUS FOR THE REST OF US!

HAPPY FESTIVUS EVERYONE! The airing of grievances, the feats of strength and the festivus pole, all good stuff! I'm a day or two late, but here's a belated Happy Festivus, and if you don't remember it, click play to watch, just make sure to turn the music off on the IPod.

Stating the Obvious Rule #2

I have come to re-learn the following:

Never, ever, ever leave a diaper off and focus on another task at hand, like cleaning a baby's nose or ears. No, it won't be ok for "just a second", it will never be ok for "just a second". It will always result in a sprinkler that will span his entire body, part of yours, and everything else on the changing table. This rule applies especially when you are in a rush to get somewhere.

FYI.

Thursday Thirteen #10

It's a very special edition of the Thursday Thirteen! When my Thursday Thirteen addiction began, we were staying at my parents' house for the night and I put one up on the blog before I went to bed. My dad left for work before I got up the next morning, but he left me a note, his very own Thursday Thirteen! So here it is, a Thursday Thirteen written by my dad, and I'm sharing it because tomorrow is my Poppyseed's birthday. Here we go:

Thirteen Things To Do: For Anyone

1. Worship Often.
2. Be careful going home.
3. Kiss the baby.
4. Exercise.
5. Buy good food.
6. Call often.
7. Plan ahead.
8. Love your friends and family.
9. Take good care of yourself.
10. Love your husband or wife.
11. Make quiet time.
12. Use your "Magic Bullet" machine. (OK this one cracks me up, I LOVE my Magic Bullet blender, and he recently got one too. I got it to make babyfood. My dad makes some pretty kick-ass margaritas. By the way, you can scroll down the left side of the page and you'll see a picture of it! )
13. Drink grapefruit or other juice. (He lovvvvvvves his daily dose of grapefruit juice!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPPY! I LOVE YOU!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

A Wrapper's Delight

My favorite part of Christmas shopping is having all of the gifts you bought in one big fat pile in the corner of your bedroom, then pulling it all out into the living room and wrapping it all. {shudder} The task is quite daunting in my head. Thankfully, it's not Christmas Eve when I've been known to wrap all my gifts until the wee hours of the morning. It always seems like much less than it is, and then 4 hours later, you're thinking, did I really buy this much? And it takes about 5 seconds to unwrap it all the next day, and you think, didn't I buy more than this? Anyway, just the fact that Christmas is still 5 days away means I'm way ahead of the game. Evan and I are planning a wrapping party tonight. Of course, we're the only ones on the guest list, except our very special VIP guest: a bottle of Robert Mondavi Pinot Noir. Cheers!

Astute Observations

I guess there's not much going on today so here's a couple things I observed over the past couple days that I thought were worth throwing out there.

First, it's so nice when I spot something that pleasantly surprises me. Like yesterday, on the way to the mall, I was driving next to a big, burly, leather-laden, very hairy, very gruff man, the kind wearing a chain on his wallet, riding a motorcycle. He had a rider on the back of his bike: a tiny frog that looked like a children's "Leapfrog" toy still in its box, strapped on the very back. There's something about seeing the soft side of these stereotypical biker guys that warms my heart. I wish I had a camera handy.

Next: I was in Dillard's today and I picked up a beautiful hand-blown "Grandma" ornament with an inscription on it: "Grandmas are angels in training." There's something creepy about that. Maybe I am reading too much into it.

Finally: this headline goes into the, "I'm sorry?" file. (click to read on).
Report: Indian Runner Fails Gender Test

That's what I got today, Happy Monday!

Stating the Obvious Rule #1

I'll be posting these from time to time. They are basically things that are obviously known rules, but I have come to re-learn and confirm them through recent experience. Here is the inaugural one.

"You cannot lose weight whilst eating like crap. Even if you are working out."

FYI.

Parade of Horns

The Holiday Parade went something like this. Happy, happy, lots of kids running around, it's really fun to watch them, having a great time, really happy, fed, napped and clean dipey, cute outfit. Life is good, Holiday Parade a success.
Holiday Parade takes turn for the worse when dozens of really loud firetrucks, local and classic, one after the other scream by with their sirens and horns on at loudest possible decible, and at the slowest parade-speed possible, causing very distressed baby.
Parade really gets going with clown car, men on tiny motorcycles, marching bands, lots of beads and candy. Baby waves to all the people, gets some cool beads. Overwhelmed baby decides he's had enough, and wants nap to commence immediately.

Holiday Chick Flick: The Holiday

Movie: The Holiday
Christie Rating: 3 and 1/2 Snowman-shaped Peeps

I forget sometimes how much I love going to the movies when I haven't been in a long time, despite the overpriced popcorn and diet coke ($10) and I always think I have to go more often. This time, I really do mean it. There are a few movies I want to see right now, and last night with pregnant friend in tow, we set out for the late late movie (10pm for me is late, I felt like a bad girl leaving the house at 9:30!). We saw the Holiday.

What caught me on this one? The great fail-safe cast: Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, and my favorite, Jack Black, whose random humor and ability to act stupid in public places cracks me up and really it makes me feel like he could be one of my friends. I even love his band "Tenacious D". The very long beginning of the movie goes through a barrage of tearful break-ups in setting up for Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet's characters to want to up and flee the country from their former loves and former selves, for a stress-free holiday. The pair meet up on a house-swap website, decide to swap houses for two-weeks and flee the very next day.

The rest is somewhat predictable, their adventures in strange places, yada yada yada, meeting strange new people for the next two weeks, and eventually finding themselves, and even finding love. Which is a really cute premise anyway, despite its predictability and I enjoyed the ride for the most part, except for, yes, the what I like to call "frolicking in the fields" scene.. which is a nearly nauseating, very long scene where Jude Law is chasing Cameron Diaz around an English tea garden, laughing and playing, all set to music. It is the epitome of corny and scenes like these always make me feel embarrassed, and I watch them through my fingers. On the other hand, maybe it was just PMS, but I actually did find myself tearing up twice in the movie: once when you found out why Jude Law was a "single" guy, and once when Cameron Diaz had her big character realization near the end of the film.

Overall, The Holiday was extremely chick-flick-like in nature, over-the-top corny in some places, and a little longer than I would have liked. Also, as a practical, somewhat jaded 30-something, the idea of finding love love, I mean the real kind, in just 2 weeks is a little hard for me to stomach, but who cares, right? It's a movie and that's what happens in the movies, and it was a great escape, which is what I was looking for anyway, right? I give it three and a half Snowman-shaped Peeps.

MY 100th POST!! WEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

100 THINGS CHRISTIE

1. I love rice and ketchup with lots of butter. And I'm not afraid to say it.
2. I was born with blond hair and now I have brown. Well now it's reddish-brown but that's not my natural color. (shhh).
3. I love music so much, it's one of the things I turn to in times of stress and sheer happiness. Subsequently, I love my IPod and I have given way too much money to I-Tunes. I guess it's a small price to pay for your own personal commercial-free radio station.
4. I flooded a car once. It rained so hard and the drainage on this one particular road was apparently very bad. The water rose, my car stalled, and my sister and I tried to push the car out of the water in our short skirts and platforms. We were on the way to the mall.
5. I cry at very unexpected times. Yes, those Folgers holiday commercials do it to me, when the soldier comes home. But sometimes just when I'm looking at my husband and son playing together. Or when I'm watching a particularly moving music video.
6. I have become much more emotional since having a baby.
7. I am someone's mom. Isn't that completely nuts??? I still feel like I'm 5 years old myself.
8. A teacher once blackmailed me into *not* talking in her class, but I was so stressed out, I blew the lid off it myself and told my parents and my parents told her off.
9. I always talked too much in class.
10. I can go into laughing fits over absolutely nothing, and laugh for at least 30 minutes. Hysterically until I'm crying and my stomach hurts and I can't breathe.
11. I used to be obsessed with crop circles and was on the crop circle e-mailing list. I drove out to see a few that "cropped" up in Utah. It was pretty cool.
12. I love traditions. I love having Thanksgiving at my house. I love having a real Christmas tree. I love watching "It's a Wonderful Life" while we're decorating it.
13. I'm very random and love spontaneity, which puzzles me that I am also such a traditionalist.
14. I've had lots of boyfriends. I've only ever loved 2. One is my husband.
15. I'm lucky.
16 My husband is so much like me, sometimes I think I married myself with a "hoo-hoo-dilly".
17. I love my Jeep Wrangler. I have never taken the hard top off to ride with the wind in my hair. Isn't that blasphemous?
18. I love "big people" shoes. That's what my husband calls all my shoes. They are tall. I am not.

19. My family growing up consisted of my mom, my dad, myself, and my sister whose 7 years younger than I am. We are all ridiculously close. I love that.
20. I can quote entire movies. Karate Kid I &II. Tommy Boy. The Little Mermaid. You've Got Mail. Titanic. There are more. The only person who can watch these with me is my sister because she can do it too and everyone else gets pissed off.
21. I was on the 5 year plan in college.
22. I miss living in a state with seasons. I love the cold weather and bundling up and turtle necks and big puffy coats and cute long sexy coats, and tall boots, and hats and scarves and gloves and the smell of wood burning fireplaces and seeing my breath in the cold air.
23. I am really good at reading people. I mean really good. I can tell if someone's lying by the look on their face (usually the lip quiver) and I can tell if my mom isn't feeling good in just one note on the phone. I can tell when a guy is or isn't interested. I can tell when someone's mad even though they say they're not. Facial expressions and body language are a much bigger giveaway than people think.
24. I've done Thanksgiving for two years in a row and I still can't make gravy. I will be practicing this in '07.
25. I love beverages. If I were stranded on a desert island and could only ask for one worldly item, it would be unlimited beverages. With ice and a straw. Does that make three items?
26. I hate when people write checks at a store. I didn't realize people still did it but for some reason it makes me crazy to be behind them in the checkout line.
27. My feet seem to make my shoes stinky. It's an unfortunate curse.
28. I love blue water in my toilet.
29. I firmly believe cheese makes everything taste good.
30. I used to like my steak well. Now I like it medium rare. I am a carnivore. Roar.
31. It's much easier than I thought to write 100 things about myself.
32. I love to sleep. I don't get enough of it.
33. My husband proposed to me at a vineyard in Napa Valley. It was like a fairytale. We stayed at a bed and breakfast, rode the Wine Train, went on a hot air balloon ride, and toured lots of vineyards and drank lots of wine.
34. I discovered my passion for tv news in high school.
35. I've been a journalist for 10 years, and have worked at 2 local tv stations, FOX News Channel, and The Associated Press.
36. My career took me to New York City and Utah and I had the best time at both.
37. I came back to Florida to marry my college sweetheart.
38. I'm a stay at home mom now.
39. My first job ever was at a drive-thru window at Checkers.
40. I got "my friend", "Aunt Flow", when I was 10 and had no idea what it was. The school nurse asked me if I knew how to wear a belt. I still don't know what that means.
41. I once almost had a warrant out for my arrest. Not for anything really bad. I failed to pay a speeding ticket I got in another county and they sent me a "notice". My dad found it. By the way, the officer who pulled me over, pulled in front of me, and behind another car, and slowly pulled us *both* over at the same time. Very effective maneuver.
42. When I'm at work, I love the adrenaline rush of breaking news.
43. When I'm at home, the news depresses me.
44. I had baby boy who was 6 weeks premature but he's perfectly healthy now.
45. I majored in Political Science in college because I thought it would be more useful in my industry than broadcasting. I was right.
46. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.
47. I'm a Virgo and a Republican.
48. I need lipstick. Yes, I'm one of those people who wear lipstick at the gym. I know, I know. But I really can't leave the house without it. I can barely be IN the house without it.
49. My out of the country experiences include Germany (once), and if these count which I'm not sure they do: Canada, St. Lucia, and 3 cruises worth of ports.
50. I want to travel more.
51. I want to have more babies. I am even thinking 2 or 3 more. Isn't that crazy? I think it would be fun to have an O'Sullivan Team.
52. I think I may have captured a ghost screaming on audio tape once when I was interviewing a psychic. It's chilling. I've played it for a ton of people. I'm not kidding. It's scary.
53. I saw Jerry Seinfeld do stand-up twice. He's my favorite. Once was in a bar in New York by accident. He was there to practice his upcoming Letterman appearance.
54. He almost ran over my friend with his black Porsche as she crossed the street. She was excited about it.
55. It is confirmed that I have seen every Seinfeld episode, most of them multiple times, and can name its theme within one minute of its beginning.
56. I love Levis jeans, Short, Bootcut.
57. I am mostly hairless. It's the "Indian" genes. I grow hair on my legs and arms, but it's blond and takes forever to grow. Sweet.
58. I am Native American (Mohawk), Finnish, Ukrainian, and German.
59. My Indian name is "Bright Star".
60. My son's Indian name is "Little Fire". It's also what his name means in Gaelic. It really couldn't be more fitting.
61. I have a complex about my appearance. (Shocking, I know.)
62. Cars that I have been through: Escort Pony (first car), Hyundai Sonata, Nissan Sentra, Miata convertible, Jeep Wrangler.
63. I love river rafting. I once took a bus from New York City to upstate by myself, stayed at a bed and breakfast (by myself) and took a cab to the rapids because I so badly needed to escape the city (I didn't own a car in New York). The guide drove me back to my bus stop.
64. I worked in New York City during 9/11. It was life changing.
65. I needed Zanax to fly in a plane for a long while afterward. Oddly, I always loved to eat cheese danish after taking a Zanax.
66. I can't keep my bedroom clean. I am a somewhat messy person, but have been much better at keeping the "common areas" clean since becoming pregnant. But my bedroom is still a lost cause.
67. I HATE folding laundry. I can wash it all day. But once it's done, it stays in big heaps on my bed, and then it eventually turns back into dirty laundry.
68. I blast the music in my car and sing at the top of my lungs.
69. I love love love karaoke. I haven't done it in 2 years, I can't even believe it!
70. I got sick in college once off "Gold Wasser", a cheap version of Goldschlager and now I can't even stand the smell of Goldschlager and very barely cinnamon anything.
71. I tried the "online dating" thing. I gave myself 3 dates. They were all freaks. I abandoned the online dating practice.
72. I LOVE PEEPS! Every size, shape, believe it or not they even have 4th of July Peeps, and let me tell you, I pledge allegiance to the Peep.
73. I wore a belt with a sweater in the 80's and I never will again. I thought that was one of the fashion bad ideas that we left behind.
74. I am a sucker for 80's music.
75. My husband and I met at a club in college on 80's night 10 years ago.
76. We once flew in a plane with both Hulk Hogan and the priest who married us. They were not together, and it was a complete coincidence, but to this date, I have never felt so secure on a plane in my life.
77. I am 31 years old.
78. I have loved writing since being introduced to the book report in the 4th grade.
79. I have started writing 2 novels. One I have high hopes for actually finishing one day.
80. I have written one children's book and am trying to figure out what to do to send it to someone to look at.
81. I thought I would miss work more than I do. Maybe I will someday.
82. I love making up words and finding other ways to use existing words in a sentence. How's your coffee? Frothy. How do you feel today? Absolutely frothy.
83. I hate spiders and I moved into a house infested with them. Thankfully, it's not anymore. I feel like throwing up just thinking about it. {shudder}
84. I love crab legs! I have a friend who used to go to all-you-can-eat crab legs buffets with me and we'd eat so much crab that we'd wait for that "clear your stomach burp" and continue eating crab legs.
85. I love the ocean and fresh water but I only like rivers and lakes north of Florida because rivers and lakes in Florida contain alligators and I am afraid of them.
86. Working in news has magnified my paranoia in life 100-fold. I can always picture something going tragically wrong, and then I make up the story in my head written in news-form.
87. I am really starting to get annoyed at how politically correct we are these days.
88. I love to kayak with my dad.
89. I love baseball. My favorite team is the Mets, but I'll watch the cute Yankees play too.
90. I ran one race in life and it was a 5k in Utah. I did not come anywhere close to winning.
91. I am Catholic and I should go to church more.
92. I am a cat person and a little dog person, because I like little doggie kisses rather than big, sloppy doggie kisses.
93. I am afraid of death. The very idea of it is so much bigger than I am and I feel claustrophobic when I think about it. I think that if we died and we never got to see the people we love so much on earth ever again for the rest of infinity, life would have been a terrible cruel joke.
94. I believe in God and I believe that we will get to see everyone we love so much here on earth again one day.
95. If I lost everything and still had my family and my friends, I would still have everything.
96. I have a small chest, but I had spectacular cleavage when I was pregnant. Sweet!
97. I was the Sophomore class treasure and Junior Class Vice President in high school.
98. I played the flute in the marching band and made Varsity softball as a Freshman and my band geekiness and my jockness worlds collided.
99. I tried out for the boy's baseball team when I was a Freshman. I didn't make it, so I played Varsity softball instead.
100. I try as much as I can to always be that "happy" person and usually succeed at it. I'd rather find the funny in everything and usually everything has something funny in it.

99th post! One more!

We're headed off to a holiday parade and I have to say, as a couple without kids, I would have liked to go to the holiday parade, but we would have woken up early and decided, eh, maybe next year. But with our little guy, we go to everything holiday, tree-lighting, parade, pictures, visit to santa, and it's so much fun because he gets such a kick out of everything even though he really has absolutely no idea what's going on or why his mom has dressed him in a stripey Christmas outfit with a matching stripey Santa hat. But that's what we're doing today, so I'll put up some pictures later on, after my extra-special 100th post, whoopie!!!