Thursday thirteen...

In honor of Christmas, this weeks Thursday 13 is (in no particular order):

13 reasons i'm blessed this Christmas:

1. My daughter Madylinn. She is by far the best thing that has ever happened to me. She has made being a first time mom the easiest job it can possibly be. To me, she is perfect, and i couldn't ask for better. She is, and always will be, number 1 on my list.

2. My family. They are always there for me, to support me, to help me, to keep me grounded. I am lucky to have each and every one of you. Thank you.

3. My marriage family. They are part of my regular family now, but i felt they needed their own post as well. They have all accepted me as a part of the family, and they always make me feel welcome. I couldn't ask for a better "extended" family, and i love you all.

4. My job. Especially this time of year, when so many people have no jobs and no income. I am truly blessed to have a job, and especially a job that i love so much. I may complain sometimes, about going to work, or working late, but it really isn't all that bad in the end. And my job gives me so much more time with my daughter than any other job would.

5. My house. I may complain about where i live, but at least i have a house. There have been so many fires lately, and people who's houses have been re-possessed, i am lucky to have a warm place to spend the cold nights.

6. My town/area. I know not many people love this area, but i feel lucky to have grown up here and to live here now. This is a low-crime area. There are great traditions. There are nice people. I never had to be afraid to walk home to/from school, or to play outside with my friends. I grew up with good morals and good values. I got a good education. I was part of some thrilling sporting events. I have wonderful memories. And i hope wherever we end up, my kids can have the same.

7. My friends. I have some of the best friends you could ask for. They are always there to support me, to be a shoulder to lean on, an ear to listen.

8. My faith. It really gives me meaning for the season, as opposed to having nothing. My faith has grown so much in the last few years, and i'm lucky to have a wonderful church and such a caring and giving priest to celebrate with every week.

9. My dogs. I may complain about them, sometimes more than others...but they are always happy to see me, they always love me, and all they want is to be where we are, spending time with us.

10. My dad. I know, it doesn't seem fair to give him his own number and not everyone else. But it's different. After coming so close to losing him this past year, it makes me even more greatful that he is here. And in a way, this post isn't just for him, but for everyone. It makes me appreciate every day i wake up, just a little bit more.

11. For the people who aren't here this holiday season. Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying we are blessed to NOT have them, but more like we are blessed to have known them and had them in our lives. We wouldn't be who we are without them, and it's nice to be able to sit back and reflect on the memories we have with them and smile.

12. Our things. Not in the selfish way, but in the "we don't NEED anything" way. We have food and clothes, our daughter has toys and clothes and diapers. There are so many people who don't have basic things, i am just truly blessed to have what we need everyday.

13. My hubby. We may argue, we may fight, but who doesn't?! At the end of the day, we love each other, and we have each other, no matter what happens. Very few people find their true love, i guess we're just some of the lucky few.

Mime girl speak-eth...

Well, after great anticipation, our little mime is now officially saying words. She actually has them pretty down pat, if i must say so (and hear so) myself. Her first official word was "dada". Not that i'm not happy that she's talking and all, but why does her first word have to be dada?! I'm the one that plays with her, works with her, pretty much does EVERYTHING with her...and how does she repay me?!?! By saying dada first!!!!!! But i'm not bitter.
Her second official word is "hi". She learned this one pretty quickly once we started. She likes to wave to people, and say hi. It's quite cute actually, even when she does it to strangers. hahaha.
And her latest word is "ball". Well, it kinda comes out more like "bbbaaaaa", but she points to the ball, and i know what she means. It counts people!!
I'm so proud of my little talker!

Ho, Ho, Ho...

So Saturday, Frank and I decided to brave our way to the mall to try to finish up our Christmas shopping. We knew there was a storm coming, but there just wasn't any other time we could go, so out we went. After spending the whole morning shopping, and re-charging over a delicious Applebee's lunch, we went back to the mall for the ever daunting task of...dum dum dum...pictures with Santa!! While waiting in a rather long line, Mady must have thought she was Miss America. She was waving at people as they went past, and she even blew some people kisses! It was quite funny to see all the people stop, smile, wave, and even blow kisses back at her. And she would just laugh and move on to the next person. We finally made our way to the front of the line, and then it was our turn with Santa. This guy was a good Santa too. He looked genuinely jolly and his belly was very much similar to a bowl full of jelly. And his beard was real to boot! We put Mady down on his lap, and walked over to where we would be out of the picture. That's where it all started. She gave us the confused look, like we were going to leave her with this guy she's only seen in pictures. Then, she realized we were just going to take her picture, so she got all pouty and started looking down like she was shy. Then, out came the boo boo lip. She didn't cry, she just stuck out that lip a mile long. The lady that was taking the pictures was really good though, and she managed to get her to look up and to at least not pout. We did NOT get a smiling picture, but a not crying one will suffice for this year at least. As soon as i get one scanned, i'll be posting it for you all to see.

Thursday thirteen...

I know, it's friday not thursday...but this has been a very busy week for me! My days are all messed up and running in to each other. But don't they always say, better late than never?! :)

My Thursday thirteen for this week is (in no particular order):
13 things i hate about my commute to work

1. Slow drivers. These people are really slow. They are people who insist on going 20 in a 45! Seriously?! If you want to "sight see", then find another road to snail upon, and stop getting in my way!!

2. Road kill. It's like playing frogger everyday. Weaving here to miss roadkill, bobbing there to miss it. Everyone on that road looks like they just left the bar with a nice buzz tied on!

3. Repeated songs. I don't just mean hearing one song, maybe twice. I mean hearing the same song about 5 times on just about every station! It's so annoying! Radio stations really know how to kill your favorite songs, really quickly.

4. The length. I drive around 40-45 min one way every day. It's enough to drive you insane. At this point, i'd be willing to live in a box to get closer to my job and out of where we are right now.

5. Trucks. Not just regular trucks, but those really extra big ones with the tires that are bigger than my car. They kick up so much dirt, i can't hardly see the road in front of me.

6. Buses. In the Line Mountain School district, everyone is so spread out that the buses have to stop, litterally, every 100 feet to drop off 1 kid! It's honest to God, stop, go, stop, go, stop, go, stop, go. You have to either beat the buses out of the school, or wait about 45min until they are gone so you can have a safe ride.


7. Construction. It never fails, and it's all the time. They have you sitting in line for about 10+min, and then when they finally let you through, they aren't even working! Seriously?! What the heck was i even sitting there for this whole time?!


8. Gas prices. My drive is 30 miles one way. I'm lucky right now that i have a car that's good on gas, but i'm getting ready to trade my car in for something new, and i'm not so sure i'll be this lucky next time. And gas isn't cheap ya know. It adds up quick!


9. Lack of gas stations. I should re-phrase this one. There are 3 gas stations between Trevorton and the school, and they are all "cash only" gas stations. This is not good for me, since i only carry my card with me most of the time.


10. No passing zones. There is seriously 1 passing zone from the manor to Trevorton. If you don't get ahead of the slow drivers there, you are screwed for a long time. It's very frustrating....very!!!


11. Spotty cell phone service. There are 2 or 3 places on my commute where i don't get any service what-so-ever. Most of the time, i get good service, it's just those few areas that scare me.

12. Weather differences. Line Mountain might as well be in another country than where i live! It can be warmish and sunny when i leave my house, and freezing and rainy when i get to work. It's ridiculous

13. Slow people. I know what you're thinking, this was #1. Well, i hate them so much, i have chosen to make them another number as well! They just really kill me!!!!!!!!!

Bah Humbug!!!

So here it is, December 15th, and i'm still not done Christmas shopping. I've finished for most people, but there are just a few people that i am having such a hard time shopping for! The hardest of them all is my dad. What in the world can you buy him?! He has pretty much everything, and i know this for a fact because I was the one who bought it all for him! He really doesn't need anything. He has all the TVs, IPod touches, sneakers, hoodies, computers...everything...that you could need! I am at such a loss this year. And i know how much money he spends on us, so i can't just show up with a gift card and be like "Here's your present, Merry Christmas!" Any ideas on what to get the hardest man in the world to buy for would be greatly appreciated. Greatly.

Thursday 13...

This past wednesday was my mom's birthday. So, in honor of her birthday, my Thursday 13 iiiissss.....13 reasons why i love my mom!
Here they are, in no particular order...

1. I love my mom because...she can fix ANYTHING! She is so much smarter than i am. I always say, i'm gonna have to have her teach me that one day.

2. I love my mom because...she is technologically challenged. It's takes her forever to change with the times, and to pick it up. It's kinda funny actually.

3. I love my mom because...she is always there for me, whether it be 1am or 1pm, if i need something, she is there to help or to give it to me. I hope i can be there for my daughter that way.

4. I love my mom because...she is an awesome cook. I love food, and i'm sure it never hurt that my mom's home cooking was the best ever. I've tried to learn her recipies so i can make them, but they just never taste as good as when she makes them for me.

5. I love my mom because...she would throw me the best birthday parties EVER when i was a kid. All the other kids would be totally jealous. And she would (i can't believe i'm going to admit this somewhere where people can actually read it and look at it and use it against me) make my cabbage patch kid an outfit that matched the one i was going to wear. All the kids were jealous, and i loved it...at the time. Now i look back, slightly embarrased, but still laughing.

6. I love my mom because...she would never play real board games with me, she only wanted to play Trivial Pursuit all the time. At the time, i just wanted to play a game so i didn't care. For a while, i was mad because, Trivial Pursuit was NOT a fun game for a kid who wasn't born when over half of the answer happened. But now, i guess it wasn't that that bad. I am kinda smart, after all.

7. I love my mom because...every year for Christmas, she makes me pecan teabiscuits, my absolute favorite cookie that only she knows how to make. It doesn't matter if she's busy, or if money is tight, she always makes me my cookies. I gotta learn that recipie one day.

8. I love my mom because...she always went overboard for Christmas. I know what you're thinking, this sounds a bit selfish. I don't mean it that way. I mean, she always made sure i got what i wanted, even if it meant spending more than she should have. We always had a huge tree and lots of presents. But secretly, if i didn't get as many presents each year, i would have been ok, mostly because she puts so much time and effort into buying my stuff and making it extra special.

9. I love my mom because...she has read every book in the public library. Ok, maybe not every book, but i would definately say 80% of them (there is a children's section, lol). I'm not a book person, but i know that if i ever really wanted to start, i could ask her the best ones in a category and she would tell me. It's a kinda nerdy quality, "Hey, my mom's read every book EVER!", but it makes her her! So it's ok. I still like to tease her about it though.

10. I love my mom because...every Halloween, she would humor me and my crazy ideas for costumes. She would either help me find it, or make it for me if we couldn't find it. She never laughed at me, or told me i had a stupid idea, she just went along with it. And every year, i looked so awesome!

11. I love my mom because...she can't hold her liquor. Well, she can hold it, just not much of it. She is a lightweight, a cheap date. It's funny. And the drinks have to be "fruity" and "taste good". That's how you know she's a lightweight. After enough drinks, everything starts to taste the same, that's why it's so easy to keep drinking!

12. I love my mom because...she was a picture-a-holic. Maybe that's where i get it from. I think there are well over 5000 pictures of me from when i was little. Every special event, every holiday, every present for that matter. I will never be able to say "I can't remember (insert event here)", because there are undoubtedly 50 pictures from that very day!

13. I love my mom because...she is my mom, what other reason really matters?! I love you mom! Happy Birthday!!

It's beginning to look (and smell) alot like Xmas...

With Christmas fast approaching, i knew i needed to get my butt in gear and get everything going that needs to be done. The first of many things on that list, is get a tree. This is one of my favorite parts of the season. We always go to our favorite tree place, we get a bow saw, we trudge through the snow and the cold until we find the perfect tree, then we (and by we i usually mean Frank) cut it down and get it shaken and wrapped and take it home. Then i decorate it with all the pretty lights and ornaments we have.


Well, this year, there are 3 of us going tree hunting. It actually wasn't as hard as i thought it might be...it was actually pretty fun! We bundled up, since it had snowed about a foot the previous day, and we made our annual trek to Snyder's tree farm. My mom and Gary followed us this year. They decided to go with a real tree (horray!) rather than the nice, but still artificial one, they put up last year. Once there, we set off in search of the perfect tree. We wanted one that wasn't as big as years past, mostly so we have room to walk through our computer room without having to shuffle sideways. To achieve this goal, we took the measuring tape with us. Now, keep in mind, we've tried this feat every year now, and we still end up with a ginourmous tree in our house. So we trudged around for about 30min, and we finally found the perfect tree. Frank started the cut, like usual, then i took my turn. I usually only cut about 1/3 of it and then i'm tired, but this year i managed to cut 3/4 of the tree!! I am so proud of myself. When we got home, we rearranged the room and got the tree up...but we didn't get the decorations on it yet, i was way too tired once we were done.



While i was waiting for Frank to get the tree anchored to the wall and get it straightened out, i made my way to the kitchen to start the Christmas cookies. I usually make lots and lots of chocolate chip cookies, mostly because that's Frank's favorite type. I always make sure i have at least 1 batch in the fridge, ready to go. I baked 1 batch last night, and they are almost gone already!

Then i tried to get our Christmas card pictures done and out of the way. I'm not sure how they came out yet, but i guess we'll see soon!