Jingle Bells....Jingle Bells....Jingle all the.....hey.....why is the Elf in Same Place?

So somewhere along the line someone decided that just threatening our kids that Santa is watching wasn't enough, but instead they need a visual for dramatic effect.  They wrote a cute story, created a creepy doll, and Elf on a Shelf was born.  Naturally, so that I am not a failure as a mother, I had to jump on board and get one.  So some time about 4 years ago, we got our elf.  Kate named her Snowflake Jingle Bells, because, of course she did.

Anywho, Snowflake appears after Thanksgiving and hangs out until Christmas causing all kinds of mayhem and mischief.  Sounds adorable, right?  Wrong.  False.  This little bugger causes anxiety and sadness, because I wake up in the middle of the night and realize that I have almost failed yet again as a mother because Snowflake still needs to be moved.

And then there are the days I don't wake up and remember............and cue in #momfail.

This morning the kids woke up, the day after Snowflake arrived back at our house, and they rushed downstairs to see where she was today.  Only, oops, she is exactly where she was yesterday.  Seriously?!?!?!?  I didn't even make it a day this year before screwing this up?!?!  Geez.

Sorry, kids.  The truth is, you were so bad yesterday that Snowflake probably decided to give you a second chance before she reported to Santa.  Er.....uh......something like that.

Needless to say, I am over compensating for tomorrow (see picture below).

Get it together Snowflake.

30 days of Thankful

I like to consider myself a drive by blogger. I only post every few months. At this point I am sure no one is following me. However, I will post anyway, at risk of talking only to myself.

So this month fellow Facebookers have been updating their statuses with their 30 days of thankful. I tried not to get sucked in. But then I started thinking of all the things I am thankful for, both serious and trivial. But rather than build the supsense by posting one thing a day, I thought I would share it all in a blog. Or two. Or maybe three, depending on how hard it is to come up with 30 in one sitting, and how much patience I have for sitting and typing.

So here goes....my 30 days of thankful, in particular order.

1 - My husband Chris and my daughter Kate. The two best decisions I have ever made in my life. I am so lucky to have such an amazing and supportive husband who is willing to put up with me. And we are so blessed to have such an beautiful, fun, charismatic daughter who brings joy to my life daily. I love them both, and would be lost without either one of them.

2 - My parents. They gave me life. They raised me right (whether I listened or not). They have taught me about the parent I want to be for Kate. They have always supported me, even when they thought I might be making the wrong decision. They have always been there for me when I came to them admitting my mistakes. They have shared all my joys and celebrated in great fashion. And they give up so much of their time to take care of Kate. I delight in the joy in their eyes when they are with their grandchild. There aren't words enough to express my thanks for them being the ones to provide our childcare. It has benefitted us both financially and emotionally. Thank you in so many ways for being you.

3- My sister, Jessica. She often fails to see her many great qualities. But she is funny, and beautiful and smart. I admire her in ways she will never understand. She amazes me with her intelligence, especially when it comes to science. She can name plants by theri scientific names, she know things like the pluaral of praying mantis (it is pratying mantids by the way), and she has an ability to grow beautiful rare orchids (not an easy task). She also never fails to laugh with me about the dumb things, like quoting Mr. Wrong, and she shares my affinity for Twilight. Greatest sister and Aunt ever.

4- Grandma- She is a staple. She is my third parent. She has been a rock. She has always been there. There have been countless laughs, scrabble games, and cups of tea. She is the one who would pick me up from school when I was sick and have the couch ready with a comforter for me. She taught me to bake, and cook(although I was never as good as her) and she taught me to get past what others think about me. She is everyone's grandma. Always has been, always will be.

5- My best friend Kristin. You don't stay friends with someone for 24 years for no reason. Sometimes I feel like we share a brain. We like the same t.v. shows, movies, music. We have the same sense of humor. We both love college football. We can finish each others sentences. We have long talks via text, email or chat and then laugh when we realize we probably should have just called. And when I do call, I can lead with something like, "TBS should really start airing reruns of Dawson's Creek." And she laughs, and then agrees. I am thankful that she remembers the things I don't, and let's be honest, more often than not, I remember the things she can't. There are too many reasons to list here.

6- Really crappy reality television. That's right. I want Jersey Shore. I want MTV Challenges. Biggest Loser? check. Survivor? Yes, please (I mean it has "outwitted, outplayed and outlasted all other reality tv.) Food Network Challenge? Of course. Thanks, t.v., for putting all this crap on t.v. so that I can be hooked.

7- College football. Yes, it is not serious, but to me, it is serious. I love, love, love fall Saturdays. Tailgating for GA football is one of the greatest experiences ever. The foood, the friends, the experience. The heat of the first game and the cold of the last. People watching the other tailgaters. Going to the actual game, or huddling around the t.v. when they aren't playing in Athens. Praising your coach. Cussing your coach. Thinking all referees are terrible. The thrill of a win and the devestation of defeat. All worth it.

8- Cheesy teen angst dramas. That's right. At 30 I have lived through 3 decades of glorious teen angst. First it was Beverly Hills 90210. Not the cheesy remake, the original. Thanks Brenda, Brandon, Dylan, Kelly, Donna, David, Steve, Nat, and Mr. and Mrs. Walsh.(I am a fan of original casts, so sorry for those not mentioned.) I followed that up with Dawson's Creek. Who doesn't love teenagers talking like they are Harvard educated lawyers? And the neverending battle between Pacey and Dawson. Love it. Thanks Joey, Dawson, Pacey, Jen, Andy, Jack and Grams! And lost but not least, One Tree Hill. I have been a fan from the beginning. I am now ready for it to be over. But I have loved every minute of you Brooke, Lucas, Peyton, Nathan, Hailey, Skills, Mouth, Dan and Jamie. I appreciate you.

9- Bacardi and Dr. Pepper. I could probably list these separately, but lets be honest, they are better together. Especially when paired with #7. Because if ever there was a perfect tailgate drink, this is it. If you haven't tried it, I suggest you do.

10- Cupcakes. I love them. I love eating them. I love baking them. Cupcakes make me happy. If I could quit my job and make cupcakes for a living, I would. Not that I don't love my job, becuase I do, but who doesn't love cupcakes?

I think I will stop here. And be back later with 10 more.

Sick of Sickness

I feel like I am always sick with something. If it isn't a migraine, its a stomach bug, or a bad foot, or acid reflux, or one of the other many ailments that my seemingly 90 year old body decides to throw at me. I am not headed to the doctor for whatever is causing me to feel sick every time I eat. I tried to ignore it, but it has been almost a week. So off I go to find out my new problem.

I am sure that my husband must think I am the biggest hypocondriac (sp?) that he has ever met. And I worry that he really thinks I am making all of this up. Because seriously, why should any one person under the age of 30 have so many issues. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

This Christmas...

...will be....a very special Christmas......because Kate will actually be old enough to kind of enjoy it this year! And I am very excited about this. I saw two friends who posted their Christmas cards of interest for this year. We got ours from Shutterfly last year and plan to do it again. Love them. They have great choices and I am super excited to order ours for this year.

Here are the ones I like.....
and.....


Shutterfly has a great offer if you want to earn up to 50 free cards. Check it out!

I need.....

A new profession. One where it isn't always my fault, everyone has to be accountable for their own actions, and where I don't come home feeling like I am a complete failure on a regular basis.

Now, if I could just figure out what else I would do with myself, that would be great.

Tonight I finally got some time to scrapbook. Well, I mean, tonight I made some time to scrapbook. I realized that I have not done so since Kate was born, which is, shockingly, a year ago this Thursday. I kind of started to feel guilty that my sweet little girl does not have sweet little baby book. And really, who wouldn't want some of her adorable pics kept in a safe, acid free environment for her to share with her kids. So here are some updated pics of my almost one year old. It's going by too fast.

Best Bday Present Ever

So my sweet hubby bought me an AMAZING new camera for my birthday. It is a Nikon D5000, and I can't wait to take some new pictures of our little angel! I have been wanting a new camera since I got pregnant and Chris finally made it happen. I will never be able to figure out all of the incredible features of this new toy, but hopefully I will be able to figure out enough to start taking some really good, quality photos!

He also made me a giant cupcake. That's right. As Seen On TV giant cupcake. It was so sweet of him to do, and it was delicious. A nice, quiet family evening is just what I needed. So, look for some good pics in the near future.

So, my mom has been coming out to take care of Kate 2 days a week while Chris and I both work. During the summer she told me how much she missed her time with Kate and how she was ready for me to go back to work so that she could start seeing Kate regularly again. What I didn't realize until she was here today, and getting ready to leave, was how much I missed seeing my Mom on a regular basis. I have come to appreciate her so much more now that I know the blessing that is being a mother. I could just sit here and talk to her for hours. I am grateful, and appreciative every day. I know that we are blessed to not have to put Kate in daycare and I sometimes worry that I cannot adequately express my gratitude.

Size 8........a plus size?

So I saw this really unflattering picture of myself from a party I went to on Saturday. It was terrible. In fact, I wanted to cry, because while I thought I was actually looking alright, this picture made me look huge. Anyway, I decided to google search women who are a size 8, my current size, and see if it is just me being way too critical of myself. That was when I came across this:

http://blessingsfromabove2.blogspot.com/2009/08/womens-size-8-new-plus-size.html

It did put things in perspective. Why is it so hard to stop obsessing about weight and start being thankful for what we have?

I have an amazing husband who loves me no matter what. He loved me when I was 135. He loved me when I was 187. And he loved me when I was pregnant and gave birth at 207. And he loves me now at 160.

I have a beautiful daughter. She doesn't know what size I am. She doesn't know how much I weigh. All she knows is my voice and my face, and to her, I am just mom.

So today I am turning over new leaf. I will work to be healthy, but not skinny. I will try to complain less about being unhappy with my weight. Starting today I will start finding something to complement myself on each day. Because, lets be honest, if the world thinks size 8 is a plus size, then its no wonder women have such poor self image.

I say it is time we take a stand, and start feeling better about ourselves. I don't want my daughter growing up believing that the only way to feel good about herself is to be a size 4.

Everything is for a reason

But sometimes it is hard to find what that reason is. And while I try to live by the belief that what happens happens because that is the way God intends it, it's still hard.

Wednesday the sale of our house closes. We will have until the 16th to move out. With that said, our offer on the short sale house still has not been approved. And their bank keeps saying, we will have an answer soon. Guess what. No answer. So it stresses me out. I am trying to believe that we are going to be living with Robert for a reason. We are moving all of our stuff for a reason. We are going to be temporarily homeless for a reason. But I find myself felling overwhelmed, and stressed and sad. There is so much to do. And it wouldn't seem so daunting if I knew where we were going to end up.

Every time I feel like I am going to break, I remind myself that there is a purpose for this transition period. God has a reason why we don't have an answer on this house. But I hate feeling so unsure, and scared. What if we don't keep out the right things? What if we overstay our welcome? What if Kate is miserable in the interim? What if we don't have the approval on this house because it isn't the house we are supposed to get?

What if.......it were easy to say okay God, I hear you and I trust you?

Does that make me a control freak? I wish it wasn't so hard to just let it all go. I know in my heart that there is a plan, and it is one that I am not meant to see or understand right now. That doesn't make it any easier.

Y'all pray for us.

Dance-tastic Furios Footwork from the 80's

That is how a guy on So You Think You Can Dance described his dance troupe. That's right. He formed it because he was sick of getting kicked out of the clubs based solely on the way he danced. Freaking hilarious. He is wearing tie dyed spandex under black running shorts. A green t-shirt and white knee high gym socks with black stripes at the top. He has then on his arms too, under his fingerless gloves. And bandanas tied around his arms. A sweatband. And, his shirt says 1, 2, 3 party. Oh, and, his teammates names are Ice and Ultra. 'Nuff said. He just said he was heading out with his boombox.

How I got pink slipped

So my boss and I have always had a pretty good relationship. We have similar personalities so we are able to joke and cut up and we laugh a lot. But seeing as we are both smart asses, we tend to push the limits and see just how far we can go. Sometimes, he likes to ask me where I will be working next year, and I respond with, obviously not here.

So a few weeks ago, he comes to tell us it is time to go to lunch. Only, when he calls my name, I think he is a student so I respond with, "Hold on." He calls my name again, and I say, "Clearly, I am busy right now." At which point, I hear a student say, "It's the principal." He responds with, "Clearly, but it is time to go to lunch." Needless to say, I turned bright red and the minute he left, I laid on the floor and sarcastically thanked the kids for having my back. Now, I have taken my share of ribbing for this incident, one for which I probably do deserve to be fired. But for the last week, I haven't heard much about it.

This morning, at our faculty meeting, it reared its ugly head. At the end of the meeting, the bossman hands out several awards and then proceeds to tell the story of my mouthyness to the entire faculty (much to my mortification) and then he awards with me with "The pink slip award: for having the uncanny ability to be fired multiple times a week and yet continue coming to work."

And that, my friends, is how I got the pink slip this fine Friday morning.

House Hunting

Let me preface this post by stating my awareness that we are fortunate that we put our house on the market and were able to get a contract in a matter of weeks. And it is a contract where we will not be cutting a check to get out of this house. Loved this house. Hate to move, but our needs are no longer what they used to be.

Now that I got that out of the way......

........I am so sick of looking at houses. I love houses. I have always enjoyed driving around and looking to see what else is out there. I love going into other peoples houses and seeing what they've got going on. However, if I have to spend one more hour in a car, driving around and looking at houses and deciding which ones we want to go into. And then going into them and finding out that the house sucks.

I also hate that we found a fabulous house, fell in love, went to make an offer and found out it had an offer accepted earlier that day. I was sick about it.

Needless to say, we have again found the house of our dreams. Only online. And so we are going to see it tomorrow and are ready to make a bid. If I post an angry blog tomorrow, know that the house is not available.

A Moment of Silence Please...

For poor Mr. Lion.

Kate had this adorable, soft lion with the cutest little mane. And she loved him. She like to hold him, and play with him and chew on him (as all 6 month olds do with everything.) He was one of a kind. (Actually, he was mass produced by jellycat, but in our world he was a stand out.)


Yesterday, Kate and I needed to go to the grocery store. I picked up her toys and put them on the mantle and in various other places. I changed her out of her jammies and into the cutest little polo dress. I put her in the car seat, grabbed the diaper bag and off we went.

After a brief trip, couldn't have even been an hour, we returned home. I took Kate back out of the car seat, laid her on her play mat and began putting her toys around her. There was her singing dog, Mr. Bunny, a teething ring, and.....wait a minute, where is Mr. Lion?

I immediately began scanning the room. Is he on the table? No! Is he in the toy basket? No! Panic began to set in as I already knew what had happened. I rushed to the bedroom to see if, hopefully, I was wrong. It was when I reached the door that I discovered the body. Poor, defenseless Mr. Lion had been mangled. His eyes were missing and stuffing was pouring out of the sockets. It was a gruesome crime scene, to be sure.

So, I would like us all to take a moment of silence for poor Mr. Lion. I would like to remember what a good companion he has been. How loving and faithful. How soft and cuddly. RIP Mr. Lion. We will never forget you............

.......but we will replace you. In fact, Mr. Lion #2 has already been ordered off the internet and will be here in 7-10 business days. It will be like you were never even gone. Phew!

Who knew?

That selling your house is such a pain? We have already had 3 real estate agents look at the house and give us prices. One would think that the prices would be in a close range. Oh, nah. Instead, we now have a price that could fall anywhere in a $30,000 range. Doesn't that seem a little bit off? I mean, within $10,000 I could see, but seriously?
And to top it off, we are supposed to pay 6% between our agent and the buyers agent? What does our real estate agent really do? Give us an MLS # and then sit and wait for some buyers agent to sell the house. How does that earn 3%? And why do we have to be on the hook for the buyers agent? Why can't they find a house on their own? We did. And we are looking on our own again. I guess I feel like we are getting ripped off a little bit.
And then there is the risk that you could have your house almost sold, and then not meet the appraisal. So, this poses a serious issue seeing as we have been given such different list values for our house. Who wouldn't want to list for the highest quote they got? Obviously that isn't the best plan.
What it all boils down to, is I would like to put a for sale by owner sign in the front yard tomorrow. I would appreciate it if the first person to see it would call and tell me they have cash, no agent, and are interested in paying my asking price. Then I can close next week, pack the following weekend and move into a new house, in a better location, more convenient to my family and the friends we actually hang out with. Can we work that out? Thanks!

Rosy Red Cheeks

So I have noticed lately that Kate is getting some really red cheeks. Turns out that is one of the number one signs of teething. Add that to the excessive drooling, which has led to a small rash below her mouth, and I would say we are in a full on teethe.

And, now she rolls over both ways and is a little roly poly oly Why is she growing sooooo fast?!?!? I can't take it. But I just love her sooooooooooo much

Directions to Nowhere...

Would you follow these directions? Some normal pieces have been left out, but you will get the basic idea from the following direct excerpts:

Follow the highway to exit 138. Turn right.
Go .4 miles to dead end and turn left to stay on road.
Go 4.7 miles to dead end and turn left.
Go 1 mile and turn onto Hunts Chapel Road. (.5 a mile Hunts Chapel Road will have a very sharp right curve. It's almost a right hand turn.) Yes this was underlined and in red on the directions.
Go to dead end and turn right. There is no street sign.
Go to dead end and turn left.
Go to dead end and turn right.
Go to dead and and turn right.
The road is very windy and hilly. One particular downhill is very steep. Its like dropping into an abyss. You will recognize it by the Granite Rip Rap to prevent erosion on the left side of the road at the bottom of the hill.
Driveway on left. 2 small flamingos and beach garb in front of driveway. No mailbox.

I didn't think so. Me either. But these are the directions Chris has to a call he is doing for a customers lake house. He left me a copy just in case he doesn't return and needs to be found.

So, tomorrow, if I cannot be reached, just know that I am following these directions in an attempt to find Chris. Hold your breath that he finds it and returns safely. I mean, I'm just sayin'.

Losin weight in 08. Er 09. Damn. I mean 2010.

So, when I had Kate in September I decided that I had 40 pounds from the baby and 20 pounds from life that just needed to go. Until now, it has been all diet and breastfeeding. I am proud to say that as of this week, I am officially at my pre-pregnancy weight. Woohooo!!!

Only now I am actually going to have to start working out to get to where I want to be. Chris told me to go ahead and throw a gym bag in the car and the nights he doesn't have calls I can stop at the gym as I pass it on the way home. Today was one of those days, but I was without my gym bag.

When I got home, Chris asked: Why didn't you pack a bag when I told you too?

Me: I don't know. I guess I just feel bad because you have Kate all day. It is selfish of me to be gone another hour.

Chris: It's okay. I told you to go.

Me: I feel guilty being away from Kate longer after being gone all day.

Chris: Don't feel guilty. Who doesn't want a hot wife.

Me: (silent)

Chris: I mean, you're already hot.

Me: Nice save, friend.

Then we both laughed. Because I know that he did not mean that even close to how it sounded. And he realized as soon as it came out, that was not what he had intended to say.

So, needless to say, my gym bag is packed and in the car. (Not really. That requires motivation.) I did get on the treadmill though. Score one for me.

Here is to getting skinny in 2010.

Tis the season to be....

Stressed? I'm pretty sure that's not how that line ends. But it is in my world. I am not done shopping, but Chris is. He asks me every morning if I want to celebrate Christmas that day. No, I don't. Because you don't have shit under the tree. Sorry Charlie. And when I thought I was going to get some shopping done, oh nah. I just couldn't get our shit together to get out the door.

Has anyone else ever tried shopping with an infant? I took her to the mall a few weeks ago, hoping to get something accomplished. Ha! I mean, don't get me wrong, she behaved awesomely. But by the time I changed her, fed her, changed her again, maneuvered the stroller through the stores, changed her, again (and this time changed her clothes too because she had spit up all over them) I was hungry. And exhausted. And had bought nothing. So, I am not taking her with me again. But by the time Chris gets everything done that he needs to, there is only a short period of time left for me and I can't quite travel as far as I need to in order to get it done.

So today, I am hoping, that when Chris gets home from his errands, that I will be able to get out there and get it done so I can stop worrying about his Christmas. Only I need help from someone, who I have asked for assistance, and said person has been wonderful to help me, but I am going to miss said person because they will be where I need to go before Chris is home. And while I could pack Kate up and go, please read the above paragraph.

So, sigh, here is to hoping that I can figure it out on my own and it gets done. That my shopping will be over and I can stop stressing about it. That Chris and I can just enjoy some time together. That I can stop worrying about how the house is a mess. That I can be excited about Friday. That I can stop wanting to just crawl back into bed and say forget it because there is just too much to do.

Kate's 1st Vacation - Blessing our Socks Right Off.

This weekend, the Neikirk's were gracious enough to invite us to their lake house for our first vacation with Baby Kate. We got up there on Friday and had a delicious Chicken Parm dinner that Erik had picked up. And then, it was time for an old fashioned Scrabble whoopin. I finally beat Chris for the first time in I can't remember how long:)

Saturday, Caroline and I went for a walk and checked out a neighbors house that had tragically burnt down. It had been a beautiful home. But, there was already a construction permit on a tree at the end of the driveway so I can't wait to see what the new house will look like.
Then the boys went fishing so Caroline, Kate and I took a little trip into downtown Helen. Kate was asleep for this part, but that didn't stop us from posing her in a couple places. It reminded me of those commercials with the pictures of the gnome wherever he is traveling.

Here is Kate at the fountain downtown.


While downtown, we watched a youth group dance. All I can tell you about this is that the lady who introduced them insisted that this would "bless our socks off." It was fun to watch and identify reasons each person was participating. There was the one curly haired, blonde boy who was way to into it. Then there was the high school jock with the backwards hat who was surprisingly good and rocking it out. And then there was the boy in the back corner who was clearly just participating to hopefully meet some girls. The crowd was into it. I don't know if my socks were blessed right off, but my shoes felt special at least.

Then Caroline and I got Caramel Appples. Yummy!!! We went down by the river and sat on a swing to enjoy our apples before driving back to the house. While we were sitting there this little boy walked down by the water and was looking at the huge water slide that was on the other side. When his parent called him to come he said, "But we just got here. I just thought we could look some." Too cute.

Here is Kate by the river.

That night we played a lot of Sequences and watched football while Baby Kate took a nap on Erik's chest. Too cute. He is going to be an awesome dad.
Sunday we had to leave kind of early because we had to get home and settled before going back out again for Joy's birthday party. Before we left, we took Kate down to the lake and took some pictures to commemorate her first trip. All in all, it was a very relaxing weekend with wonderful friends and it is nice to know that Kate is welcome too.





So, hope you enjoyed the pics and that something wonderful blesses your socks off this week. :)