Thursday

Goodbye 2009

I'm in the process of taking down Christmas. It is sort of a depressing project because that means the holidays are really over and the cheeriness of the tree lights will be gone. The house will go back to normal, which means it's no longer okay to leave presents in the living room around the tree. Things must be put away. And most of all, the eating MUST STOP.

During the holiday season I pretty much give in to any sweet presented in front of me. Because of that, I need to snap myself into shape. Quickly. We are going to Florida in less than three months. Closer to two months. I want to say that I've never worn a bikini, but I bet my mom dressed me in one as a toddler. So my goal was to wear a bikini in Key West. I'm not sure that goal is still attainable (well, I could certainly put one on right now, but I don't want my fellow travelers to be disgusted at the sight!) but I'm going to try my best.

Monday

The Holiday Spirit

What a great Christmas! We had an awesome, drama-free holiday this year. The hubs probably spent too much money on my gift, but I love every part of it, so I'm not returning any of it! :)

The drama-free part of the holiday was sort of bittersweet. My SIL is a little dramatic and has decided that we are no longer part of her life. The sad part is, "her life" includes our niece, who we love dearly. So while we didn't get to see the niece or even talk to her on the phone, we did get a message that if we had any presents that we should drop them off at the grandparent's house for pick up later in the week. I'm guessing that she thought she was being extra nice to us by making that offer. However, it just doesn't work that way. Since we were told that we were no longer part of their lives, we did not buy the niece any gifts.

But Christmas eve was spent with the hubs' family and I had a great time watching all the other kiddos open their presents and bonding with my still semi-new extended family. It was awesome because the SIL was not there to make anyone uncomfortable or cause any unnecessary drama.

I hope your holiday was equally as wonderful.

Wednesday

Merry Christmas

A snippet from Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds concert that I did not attend:



Tuesday

Christmas Day prep

For the past three years, the hubs and I have been waking up at my father-in-laws' house. Our niece was brought there and we enjoyed seeing her open presents from pa-pa. This year, we decided to go ahead and wake up at our house. We are having my parents and sister/bro in law over for lunch before we all head to my grandma's for dinner. This way, the hubs and I can have our own mini-Christmas together before we rush around cooking for the fam. We are both horrible at waiting to open gifts. I'm actually surprised it hasn't happened yet. We love buying gifts for each other and as products of this generation, we seek immediate gratification. We want to watch the other one open the present RIGHT NOW!!

If hubs were going to be home with me tomorrow night, I might consider having our little gift exchange early, but instead he will be at the MO-IL game with his best buddy. I'll be grocery shopping and cleaning the house.

Because it's our first time hosting Christmas, I want to make a record of the planned menu. If you have something to suggest, please feel free. Or tell me what your family eats on Christmas day. I bet the hubs' family tator tots is not the only non-traditional tradition.

Baked chicken
Green bean casserole
Imo's salad
Crescent rolls
Sweet potato puffs
Dessert from Rusty

Monday

He's so sweet.

This basically sums up what the hubs and I have been up to. We are enjoying the holiday season together and have painted the beer fridge with chalkboard paint. I found this note when I left for work this morning.

Tuesday

The pugster and his new friend, a Brussells Griffin





Unfortunately, this is my dog's favorite thing to do...


Monday

New favorite


I used to be a single-star server at Cracker Barrel. The entire time I worked there I usually ate grilled chicken, biscuits or apple dumpling for dinner. Not once did I try the "Eggs in a Basket" dish on the breakfast menu. A few weeks ago I decided to try it, and I fell in love.

Tonight, I attempted it at home. I made four "baskets" for the hubs and I to share, but only half of them were "correct." I busted the yolk in 2 baskets, which really ruins the entire basket experience for me. I prefer my egg in the basket to be over easy, or as my sister called it when we were kids "dip egg."

I found the only way to not break the yolk was to flip the basket by hand, lowering it slowly back down to the griddle. Poor hubs' first basket turned out to be french toast for the most part. His egg went over the entire basket, but he is a good husband and ate it anyway.

Sunday

Cookies!!


Most of the time I try to bake/cook somewhat healthy foods. This week, I did not even attempt. I baked cookies all day Friday with a few of my good buddies. If you are unaware, I pretty much suck at all things in the kitchen. I really suck at cooking dinner, but I can usually pull of baking. The image above proves I mess that up too. Can you see how the little chocolate kisses are burned on the tips? Yeah, I baked the cookies with the kisses on them...

But I saved them because I pulled off those burnt boys and used melted chocolate to adhere fresh, uncooked kisses and now they are delish! Those chocolate chips in the background were good the first time around. We also made sugar cookies and decorated them with green and pink (the red was never strong enough) icing. It was a fun day.

Tuesday

I'm workin' on it.

I'm trying to get the treadmill fixed. The problem is that the peeps who fix treadmills work the same schedule I do, in the same time zone (they are in Kansas if you were curious). So I can't call them before or after work (like I could if they were in India) but I'm hoping I'll have time on Friday when I work from home.

Every night last week and last night the hubs and I walked outside. It's been awesome to walk with him every night and have someone to talk to, instead of walking by myself. I'm not sure what is motivating him to walk with me because usually he'd rather just lift weights, but I'm happy to have a partner on my walks. :)

Saturday

Stupid treadmill

For the record, I did not want to buy the dang treadmill before we moved, but the hubs was extremely motivated to lose weight while I was not living with him. So I caved and we ended up with a 300lb monster to deal with during the move. To get it in the new house, we had to take it apart and put it back together because it was too wide to fit through the doorway. Neither of us bothered to use it while it was in the garage, plus the goody book says not to store it in the garage.

He did use the treadmill daily prior to the move, and I used it a few times a week once it was situated in our bedroom. It was nice to watch my soap while on the treadmill every night. However, a few weeks ago it started jolting to a stop while I was running (which scared the bejeezus out of me every time!!) and not turning on with the first try. Now, it won't beep beep to tell us it's ready. The switch lights up and I can hear the speakers turn on like it wants to work, but the screen never lights up to tell me to push start.

So now what? I have anther 300lb monster just chillin in my bedroom, when it's too cold to really run outside and I'm actually motivated to run. We took it apart this am to make sure it was all connected still, and it was. Soooo... I guess I'll have to call someone to fix it.

Friday

Found this at work.

has anyone ever tried these?

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Thursday

First new photos

The hubs and I have been walking together at night, and even though it was literally freezing out tonight, we bundled up anyway. This might be one of the first times I've worn long underwear. And because I'm in love with my new camera, a self-portrait. I was also on the phone with KT at the time... there's no pausing.

And because the hubs is not a huge fan of his photo being taken, the dog has no choice but to be my favorite subject.


New Camera!!!

Now that November is over I dont have to post every day.

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