Taking Care of Some Busyness

I know, I know...I made a commitment to journaling blogging for 6 weeks...and I've stunk up that goal for the past 2 weeks...but cut me some slack. I've been kinda busy.

So busy...that I still haven't gotten all of my Christmas out yet. I'd say forget about it-because it's already the 8th. But, it's the most important part of Christmas...the nativities, my garland on the stairs, and the front porch stuff.

So busy...that my pumpkins just barely got thrown away this morning...and only then because it was garbage day. On the upside, I've made room for Christmas decor by getting rid of the leaking, stinkin,' juice-leaving pumpkins.

So busy...that my house looks like it's been bombed by terrorists...and today after cleaning for 3 hours...it only looks a little bit better...I need an intervention...and by intervention--I mean a maid.

So busy...that I started Christmas shopping like gang-busters over Thanksgiving break...and haven't given it a second thought...even though I'm only half way finished!

So busy...that I can't even think of a good ending for this post.

How bout' a picture...remembering the good times...

{This was taken before the busy-ness hit.
Don't I look so happy & carefree..and a little sassy...?}

PS Check out the background shenanigans...Ali said, "Don't look at the camera"...Auz took it literally.

Random Tales of a Thanksgiving Weekend

A watched pot never boils...until EVERYONE that has been watching it, looks away. Then it
boils over.

I really like banana cream pie.

Black Friday shopping with your teenager is a good time. She was so excited to go that she woke up at 330 AM without complaint. She rocked those sales...and is already talking about going next year. Do you see the monster I have created?

I really like lemon meringue pie.

The sign of a successful Thanksgiving Dinner...is discarding your belt at the end of the day because you no longer need it...I am gonna be hating the scale Monday morn!

I love playing games with family!

We saw "Megamind" with the kids and cousins on Friday. When the credits were rolling, my nephew said, "Who's Brad Pitt?" Austin replied, "He's a famous country singer." Am I the only one who finds humor in the fact that he's confused Brangelina with the down to earth Brad Paisley?"

I really like creamy chocolate heath bar trifle.

I hate the game Risk because it takes forEVER! On Thanksgiving, our (almost 4 hour) Phase 10 game lasted LONGER than Risk.
{PS I'm no longer a fan of Phase 10.}

I really like homemade rolls (and by homemade...I'm not talking about Rhodes rolls...which is what MY children think homemade rolls are).

Jordyn posted in her facebook about our early morning trip to "Frank Meyer's"...poor Fred..why does Frank always leave him out?

Thanksgiving dinner...mmm!

When we got to Idaho, we figured the state hadn't heard about snow plows. The roads around here are terribly snow packed. THEN on Black Friday morning...Jordyn and I saw a whole slew of snow plows driving around town...with their plows up. What the?

I love this quote I heard from a friend that said,
"Without Thanksgiving...we'd go from gimme candy to gimme presents. "

I'm so thankful for Thanksgiving!

Black Friday Observations

Jordyn and I hit the Black Friday shopping today. It was her first time going...and when I woke her up this morn at 3:30, she was so excited to go...that she jumped out of bed and got ready faster than me!

Between the hours of 4 AM- 10 AM we made out like bandits at:
Target
Kmart
Joanne's
Fred Meyer's Utahns...do you remember Fred Meyer's? They still have em' in Idaho
JCPenney
Sears
Old Navy
McDonald's...for a rejuvenating pit-stop
Sally's Beauty Supply
back to Target
back to Kmart
back to Sally's...
...and finally...home again, home again, jiggity jig!

We bought almost everything on our list! The only thing we didn't get was the Zebra Snuggie advertised at FM...and I'm still questioning if that's really a bad thing.

Reasons why it's super fun to go Black Friday shopping with your teenager:

*That darling girl stood in lines for me all day.

*She ran around and found
deals for me.

*She kept an amusing conversation going all morning.

*She laughed at all of my jokes...even when they weren't funny...I'm guessing it was due to lack of sleep...but whatev.

*Throughout all of my bad driving moments...all 3 of them...she had the funniest excuses I could tell the policemen if I got pulled over. My fave was, "I'm sorry Officer, but we're from out of town and my daughter is sick. Where's the nearest hospital? Ohhhh! You want to escort us there? Ummmm...Could we swing by Kmart first?"

*She had me try on the most darling hat at Target (just like Petal's)...told me how cute I looked...then talked me into buying it because now I had fly-away-nasty-hat hair.

*She let me eat half of her Cina-Melt...cuz she knew I really wanted one..but didn't order one for myself cuz I was trying to be good.

*My second favorite bad driving excuse, "I'm sorry Officer, we're new in town, and our GPS told us to turn down this one way street (which it seriously did).

*Tonight, as we were reporting our good deals to my sis-in-law...we discovered that Twin Falls actually has a Walmart (which we used to have to drive to Jerome for it...and so we opted out this year). Jordyn said, "There's a Walmart in Twin? Let's go! We can't miss out on those deals!"

It's so rewarding to see your daughter follow in your Black Friday footsteps.

Talk about having a girl after
my own heart!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Giving Thanks

So, what are you thankful for?

The Greatest Snow On Earth

There's supposed to be a big snowstorm today.

A storm of epic proportions.

So big, El Jefe came home from work early...and is planning on working from home tomorrow.

So big, that several places I went to today had signs in their windows saying they were closing at 5 pm due to the pending storm.

So big, that I was talking to my sister earlier today and she told me that all of the universities and colleges were canceling classes tomorrow.

For a storm that hasn't hit yet.

Jilly said, "We live in Utah, people. It snows every year. What's the big deal? They're acting like it's Y2K!"

I had to agree.

{At least until tomorrow, when I'm living in a snow cave, and all those gloom and doomers say,
"I told you so!"}

I think Savvy summed it up best when she called home from her bestie's house and asked, "Mom! Is the storm here yet?"

"Look out the window and see for yourself," I kindly said.

"We are looking at the window, and we don't see anything happening," she answered.

P.S. It's times like this that I wish I lived a little bit closer to my sister, Jilly, cause she's the one with all the food storage. I don't think my year supply of gum & diet coke is going to cut it.

P.S.S. Jordyn's swim coach is also feeling the pain of the storm...here's an email we just received updating us about practice today and tomorrow.

I laughed out loud.

"Due to the oncoming biggest storm in the history of Utah, Dimple Dell will be closed tomorrow morning. We will have to cancel morning practice because of this. In the unlikely event that we are able to dig out of our snow caves, we will plan on having practice Wednesday afternoon at 3 pm for those that will still be in town. If you have the chance to flee the oncoming carnage, have a great holiday. Those of us left in town will adopt the survival techniques of the Eskimos to get by."

Name that Smell

After I got off work today, I had to run a couple of errands.

Once I was finished running around like a lunatic, I realized that I was starving and it was almost time to pick up kids.

So I swung by In-N-Out...for a tasty lettuce wrapped burger (cause I'm trying not to eat carbs) and a delightful french fry (d'ya think I canceled out the wicked deep fry carb by not eating the bun carb? Prolly not.)

I quickly ate the messy deliciousness in the van, disposed of the evidence, and then headed home to pick up my first child of the carpool, Jordyn.

As Jordyn got into the car, she said, "What's that smell?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied.

"It smells like you ate at Wendy's," she said.

"Nope," I answered.

Petal's son, Ian, was also with us. He said, "Nah, it smells more like Arby's to me."

Once again, I denied the smell.

After I dropped them off at swim team practice, I had to pick up my twins from school.

Savvy was the first to hop in.

Savvy said, "What's that smell? Did you go to Sonic without us?"

"Nope. I don't know what you're talking about," I answered.

Finally, Auz got in.

"So, Mom, did you bring me a hamburger from In-N-Out?" he asked.

"Uhhhh. Nope," I answered.

"How rude," he answered.

{That boy has a superior sense of smell!}