Saturday

Hey, wha' happen?

It's a strange day when I'm decorating for Christmas and jamming to Blues Traveler...

When I finish decorating I'm headed to the mall since I didn't get to shop yesterday. Hospitals don't close you know.

Friday

The Fam


Emily wanted a family pic of the six of us. I think we all look pretty good, but maybe we should take another one at Christmas so we are all prepared.

Wednesday

Oh-PAH!!! have some ouzo.

I’m excited for tonight because it’s one of the more fun nights of the year in hubby’s hometown. Most people are home for the holiday but don’t usually have a family obligation which means everyone is free to go OUT. Contrary to popular belief, I do enjoy hanging out with hubby’s friends and I do enjoy going to a smoke-free bar. I do not enjoy smelly clothes, hair and dry eyeballs from smoke.



I’m also ready for tomorrow morning at the K household, which is a now a tradition for us, since we’ve gone for the last 4 years. For some reason, I feel like I have to dress to impress at this event, but not really the rest of the day. Maybe because it’s non-family at this event and since I’m not part of the original group I still feel like I need to prove myself. So my outfit is chosen and may be a little “over-dress” but too bad because I think I look really good in it. AND I get to wear my new cute boots with this outfit.

Tuesday

This move affects the family pet too.

Is everyone still watching the puppies?

I think I should probably put a camera on my mom's belt so we can watch General all day as he follows her around the house. He is so completely spoiled that last weekend in Carbondale he would not be still unless he was sitting on either of our laps. He used to nap in another chair - the chair that squeaks when it rocks and came from Grandma S's house. He preferred to be solitary so that no one bothered him while he slumbered. Now that he is a grand-dog full-time, he refuses to sit anywhere but a comfy warm lap.

I'm afraid he's also getting used to grandma taking him out every 20 minutes and that when we move into our own house, his little bladder is going to have a rude awakening when little General is forced to hold it for 8 hours at a time.

Monday

The boys

Good thing I put my scarves and gloves on the table there for these 2 cats to lay on all day today.

After dinner, mom and I went in search of some brie for a dish I'm making for the annual party we go to Thursday morning pre-Thanksgiving festivities. Most people bring some sort of finger food or dip. So I found a Paula Deen recipe for Sugared Nut Brie.

Incase anyone else is looking for brie, don't go to ShopNSave. Dierbergs is the way to go. They not only had brie, but several options to choose from.

Sunday

My dad, the kid

This is the sight I see when I come home from work sometimes. My dad pulls in a chair from the kitchen and sits really close to the TV to play playstation like an eight year old boy. I find this hilarious. The photo is kinda dark, taken with my phone, but you get the idea.

Turkey Time

Wow. I can't believe it's already Thanksgiving this week. It seems like just a couple of weeks ago I moved my clothes into my parents house preparing to stay there for a month tops. I didn't even bring a sweatshirt or jacket with me because I just knew our house would sell as fast as my parent's sold their house 15 years ago (in one week). I thought for sure we'd be moved into our new house by now.

While it's depressing that we haven't sold our house, I'm still excited for all the other things happening in my life. The job is still awesome. I love this time of year because I love spending time with both sides of my family. I'm disappointed that we won't be able to see hubby's family for Thanksgiving, but we will be there for Christmas Eve. It just didn't work out time-wise for us to be at both our family's turkey times, and since we skipped out on my family last year, we won't be at his family's this year. Plus I have to work on Friday, so it's better if I'm in STL Thursday night.

I'm assuming that hubby's family will continue the new xmas present exchange game we did last year - being a rob your neighbor/white elephant sort of thing instead of drawing names, which they did previous to that. So our presence at Thanksgiving is not needed for that purpose. However, my family is now implementing a name-drawing exchange for the first time, so we probably need to be there since we have experience in that department.

Friday

I apologize

For the lack of blogging. I've been busy at night reading Twilight. In fact, my hubby is feeling a little unloved, because I've been reading so much that I forget to call him until around 1015 when I look at the clock and realize "oh crap! I have to work tomorrow!" Gone are the days in college when I could stay up for 24 hours straight reading a book like I did with the DaVinci Code and the Harry Potter series.

In other news, I'm still kicking around this cold that I've had for 2 weeks now. I also got a hug from actor Will Smith while he was in town promoting his new movie, so that was exciting. We are planning on going to Tstreet tonight if anyone wants to join us. Apparently they are celebrating an anniversary and having 10 cent 10 oz beers all night. Not that I will partake in the beer drinking, but I might drink something else.

Tuesday

Flowers!

Look how pretty my awesome flowers are from the hubster. I think it was cute that the flower lady included 2 roses (my fav) for our 2nd anniversary without knowing either of those details.

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Happy Anniversary!!!


Two years ago today, I walked down the aisle crying like you've never seen me cry before. I guess it was all the stress and happiness coming out at once, but I was a mess. Since then, we've grown up a lot and learned about life and each other. I won't lie and say it's been sunshine and roses the entire time, but the good has definitely outweighed the bad and we (I think I can speak for the both of us) are happy with our lives together so far. I know I'm looking forward to the near future when we can live in the same house again and start our lives together in the big city. We might even make a baby eventually. Who knows.

Monday

Fast Eddies: a review

Food: FE is known for their cheap, delicious food. You can choose from about 10 items, all under $3. I had a cheeseburger ($1.29), fries ($1) and some of hubby's shrimp ($.29 per scrimp). Hubby also had chicken on a stick and a kabob sort of thing, both of which were big money at $2.99 a piece.

Drink: You know I don't drink beer, but I appreciate a cheap beer due to the fact that I share a bank account with my hubby, who loves beer. I think beers were $2.50.

Atmosphere: in a word, PACKED. The place was full of so many people that our two choices to sit down were in the hall outside the bathroom (gross) or outside where it was snowing/sleeting/freezing. We opted for open air, but they did have some nice heaters and a tent to keep us warm. We could still hear the live band and our food numbers being called.

Location: Alton, Ill is not the first place I'd choose, especially growing up in Fenton, Mo (a good hour's drive). However, when you start in Collinsville, Ill with your cousins and some other folks willing to drive too, it makes for a really fun night out!

Fast Eddies Bon Air

We went to Alton, IL this weekend for our first visit to Fast Eddies. I'll write more about it later, but this is what we look like.

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Thursday

Impossible.

I work at a health care organization. I tried today to see a doctor because I've been sick all week. It turns out, if you are not on the books, it is completely impossible to see a doctor at 4pm on a Thursday. One lady told me to go to the ER (where I would sit and wait and never be seen for my sore throat, cough and just misery as compared to the gunshot wound sitting next to me and pay a $100 co-pay should I make it to a MD) or just go ahead and suck on a cough drop. Thanks.

Another lady told me to go to an urgent care center (which would also be lots of dollars that I don't have) or tough it out.

Neither of these women knew I was one of their "coworker" because I called their offices just like everyone else does. I think it's telling me how much we need to work on our customer service at ALL levels of the organization.

Luckily, I have a doctor in the family who can help me out in times of need.

Wednesday

New goal: 42 flights of stairs

At work, we're participating in the Master the Met stair climbing competition/fundraiser. We had our first "training" session today where we climbed 17 stories. I didn't think it was that bad, considering I'm currently full of those nasty green mucus guys in the mucinex commercials. I was sweating at the top though. I think we are going to be doing the stair climb once a week for a while, then increasing.

Tuesday

Now will they buy it?

We dropped the price of the house again today. Hopefully this drop will put us into a different search bracket and increase our visibility. I'm ready to drop it more, but hubby thinks it's more important to have more money for our next house than to sell it faster. Personally, I'd rather move out of my parent's house and buy a new one.

In other news, I pretended to be a patient today for a photo shoot. It was weird laying in a hospital bed, but it was actually pretty comfy. I don't think I've been in a hospital bed since I was born, so it was strange to see the view from their eyes. They even faked an IV on my arm and it was actually dripping on to the bed so the computer looked as realistic as possible.

Monday

Heel Spur?

Last Thursday, Emily called and asked me to come over and go running after work. I agreed because it was still warm out and I happened to have a pair of tennis shoes with me. Unfortunately, they were my most worn-out pair. We ended up running about 3 miles and the next day my heel started hurting. It is still hurting today with every step I take. I'm not sure what my injury is called, but it's pretty painful.

I even took the inserts out of another pair of tennies and put them in my new boots so they were more cushie for my footsies.

Sunday

Too Much?

I'm a compulsive planner. It really bothers me to not know what plans are. I'm sure my husband and my college roomie can attest to how much I annoy(ed) them because they are both very much procrastinators and just "go with the flow."

For example, I have kept all of my "Fat Pants" that I still consider wearable. I keep them because when I get pregnant, I'll already have pants that I know I like. This morning I tried on some of my size 20 tall pants (which was not my biggest size of Fat Pants btw) from college to make sure they were indeed still "Fat Pants" - which they definitely were. If I could lose maybe 8-10 more LBs I could probably start wearing Emily's pants or size 14.

And to answer your question grandma, no. I'm not pregnant.

Saturday

Boots McGee

As a pretty tall female, I also have large feet. They are what I would call "normal" width, but long, pretty much in proportion with the rest of me. So most of my shoes are size 11, some of them even size 12. With my new job, I'm walking at least 1 mile per day to meetings and photo shoots, so comfy shoes are required. This means I can no longer consider myself part-idiot, shoving my feet into smaller shoes just because they look cute.

For the past 2 weeks or so, I've been on a search for boots. I'm looking for flat, mid-calf comfy boots that I can wear to work, or out. Also, I don't want them to make my calves look 4x bigger than they are already. And I refuse to pay more than $60-70. Tall order, I know. I've scoured my normal spots on the internets, but they all charge too much and are not guaranteed to be comfy. I spent most of the afternoon hunting through the few spots in Carbondale with no luck.

I will continue this search in the big cit-ay. I know Dillards in the Galleria has some big people shoes, so maybe I'll head there first.

Thursday

MyFace

  • My aunts/uncles call myspace and/or facebook "myface"
  • It amazes me how many people above the age of 30 have no idea whatsoever what either end of "myface" is.
  • I love it when someone from high school finds me on either place because I don't really have to talk to them, but I can see what they are up to.

Wednesday

Flip a house?

We have somewhat expanded our house search. Today I went to look at two foreclosed houses. The first one was absolutely disgusting, and in HORRIBLE shape. I'm talking holes in the ceiling, holes in the floor, rotting floor, rotting ceiling, black mold covering a wall, the front wall brick was cracked and warped, and that's just what I saw on a 10 minute glance.

However, the house was in a really nice neighborhood, so should someone choose to tackle that problem, they could possible make a profit if they were able to do a lot of that work themselves. The other house was in the same nice neighborhood, and our agent is working on it. The basement leaked and ruined the finished basement, but he's already taken care of fixing it. The upstairs needs new carpets, but other than that the rest of the house was great! It was dirty, and needs new paint everywhere, but that is totally do-able.

The other good news is I talked to our neighbors in C-dale and they said they know someone else interested in our house, so I asked them to put in an offer and see what happens. So hopefully something will come of it soon.

Tuesday

Push Back

Does anyone else hear the term "push back" every day at work? Whatever project we are working on, we are constantly concerned about the possible push back we will receive from whoever. I find it really annoying and I don't like the term at all.

Absentee

I voted three weeks ago. I'm totally getting screwed out of free Starbucks coffee, a free Krispy Kreme donut and free Ben and Jerry's ice cream because I don't have a stinkin' sticker on my shirt!!!

Monday

KOL Video



video? ive never tried before... it didn't turn out very well, but the it's the song "Charmer"


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KOL on stage

kings of leon

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Today

It was nice to wake up to sunlight... not so nice to walk out of work to complete darkness. The good news is, my parking lot is very well lit and covered in security cameras. I had to change clothes before the concert, so I thought it wouldn't be a big deal to just change in the car because it was dark. Little did I know how well my employer would light up the parking lot!! I hope no one saw me in my undies...

Sunday

More borophyll

I know I probably sound like a broken record, but today while we were driving around looking at houses, I can't help but continually become more depressed. It seems like all the houses that we want end up selling really fast, while no one is even looking at ours. It's almost Thanksgiving, and that means Christmas is just around the corner. I had it set in my mind that we would be in our new house by the holidays. I really wanted to wake up at our own house and open presents together. Somehow this signified our new start in a new place together. Lately I'm unsure if that will happen. What if I'm still living at my parent's house and that means we can only spend a few days together at Christmas because I'll have to go back to work the next day and hubby can only be in their cat-house for a few hours at a time, so he'll probably go back to Carbondale without me.

Saturday

Makers Mark

Politically correct booze...

No one is getting in here.

This is the door lock contraption at a gas station in benton IL. Kinda overboard no?