This is the Fat Lady Singing

• I wish my blog had some sort of word counter so I would know how many words I've written this month. Renae just posted on Facebook that she has completed NaNoWriMo-that's 50,000 words for those of you that don't know. Fifty thousand. Well done, Renae!
• I just read through Fussy's NaBloPoMo, and the funniest post was actually before November started. "I also wanted to grow up and be a Playboy bunny" about made me spit out my wine. I don't know if I've ever shared her here, but Eden is an icon in the blogging world. Start with that post. She is a spotty post-er but well worth the wait.
• I really had no intention of turning this into a linky-love post so I'll stop now. 
• Semi-finals in football tomorrow. In the rain. None of our teams has ever played in December before and this year we have two! Go Saints!
• Then, on Sunday we get to be proud parents of a pianist. Variety, y'all.
• I tried to start my master December To-Do list today and failed miserably. I did however get most of the laundry done, so I guess it's a wash. Heh.
• I have only one Christmas decoration out so far. My goal is to have the house clean (or at least picked up,) and all of the decorations (that are going up,) up by Monday, Tuesday at the latest. It's a lofty goal, but one that's achievable. I think. Of course, I'm only one person, so we'll see.
• I got the go-ahead to call an electrician to finish the bathroom lighting installation. Melisa, I think I was right. 1 year won't be too far off.
• Oh! The other goal is to get all/most of my shopping done, online, this week. There will be a few odds and ends that I'll have to complete later but I'd love to have the bulk of it done by Friday. That means a list. And a conversation with HD. But you all know how much I love this stinking machine, so hopefully I'll be able to say I'm done by Friday. Is that realistic?

NaBloPoMo, check.

T-2 posts

November is long, y'all.

I'm out of ideas, I need a night off. I need to write lists and clean and shop and coordinate my calendars, you know, just take care of business. It feels weird that it's still November and Thanksgiving was a week ago. And December is still 2 days away. Weird.

NaBloPoMo is a great exercise for me. It gets my writing juices flowing again. (Yes, I know, just in time for me to be buried with Christmas stuff. Still.) I'm looking forward to doing some of Diana's Writer's Reverb for 2012 posts. She has some great topics relating to those of us who write for a living, or like me, aspire to. You should follow along. I'm planning on doing some of them, maybe not all, but go check it out. I bet you'll like it.

*****

The holidays are looming. What's your favorite part? The food? The parties? The presents? I'll answer, you'll just have to remind me. My mind is jello after 29 posts. One left, y'all. One more.

Big days are exhausting.

Thirteen went really well. He got great stuff, including a brand new shiny saxophone. He got all of his favorites for dinner. (I cooked all day so it would be ready before I had to take the other boy to football.) He got Creamsicle cupcakes. (Pinterest. I'll link the recipe later.) He had a smile on his face all day. Mission: Accomplished.

I'm pooped and have to be up in a few short hours to get my parents off to the airport. Be back tomorrow with more. If I can pry my eyes open.

Answers for Carmen, Questions for You

I totally swiped this from Carmen. I'll answer-you should too! Either in the comments or on your own blog. Spread it around, baby!


1- What was the last thing you ate? And had to drink? Burgers, baked beans, and coleslaw for dinner. Wine. Always wine.
2 - What was the last movie you saw? Wreck It Ralph. My once-a-year foray into the theater.
3 - Am I the only person who doesn't like mojitos? I love mojitos.
4 - Do you feel guilty if you run a red light? Or do you just feel like you've gotten one over on the man? I try not to run red lights... People in California jump the greens so you might die.
5 - If you could only take one kind of vitamin, what would you feel was the most important? I don't take vitamins.
6 - Are you wearing socks right now? Nope.
7 - What kind of gas mileage are you getting lately? I usually get about 18-24, average.
8 - Even though this is the absolute longest Christmas season possible - i.e., we had the earliest turkey day possible - who among us already knows that she'll be scrambling last minute?? I almost always scramble the week before so I'm actually home for the last few days. It's my husband that waits for the last minute. He's famous for December 24th, 6pm presents. Sshhh! Don't tell him I told you! This year I'll be shopping online for most of it and having it shipped to our Christmas destination.
9 - If someone does something nice for you, how do you repay the favor? Send a thank you note? Make cookies? Or just do nothing and hope karma will even it out for you? It depends on what it is and who did it, so any of the above, or take dinner. Dinner is always appreciated by busy families.
10 - Are you a liquid or bar soap person? Depends. General, quick hand-washing=liquid. Shower=bar.
11 - What was the last text message you received? "Yes" In response to asking a friend if we were going to have coffee this week. Yay!
 

Look Who Came To Visit

This handsome young man came to see us on our first day in Colorado last summer. He had a quick lunch and hopped away.

This or That

While doing a little catch up in my reader this evening I found this over at Deb's blog. Who took it from It's My Life, by way of Adventures of D and V. Please steal borrow it from me!

1. Chocolate or Vanilla: Vanilla

2. Morning or Night: Night

3. Eating in or Out: It's a toss up.

4. Cats or Dogs: Both, er, another toss up.

3. Apple or Windows: Apple

4. Store bought or homemade cookies: Homemade, as long as they're soft.

5. East coast or West Coast: East coast

6. Night out or night in: Night out! But I am kinda anti social, so most nights are in anyway.

7. Coke or Pepsi: Coke

8. Laundry or Dishes: Laundry

9. Football or Baseball: Football (Although I do love me some boys of summer...)

10. Reality TV or Sitcom: Sitcom

11. Electronic reader or paperback: Paperback

12. Facebook or Twitter: Facebook (Although I do love me some Twitter...)

13. Eloping or Wedding: Wedding

14. Math/Science or Language Arts: Language Arts

15. Salt or Pepper: Pepper

16. Friday or Sunday: Sunday-Church and football, in that order.

17. Movie theater or rentals: What's a movie? Theater for the popcorn. I go so seldom that I don't worry about the calories.

18. Paper newspaper or online news: Blech. Neither.

19. Valentine's Day or Thanksgiving: Valentine's Day. Less pressure

20. Oscars or Grammy's: Grammy's

21. Gas stove or electric: Gas

22. Gold or Silver: Gold

23. Coke or Tea: Coke

24. City or Country: Country

25. Diamonds or Pearls: Diamonds

26. Peanut butter or Jelly: Neither, but definitely not peanut butter

27. Colors or black/white: Colors

28. Online shopping or actual shopping: In store

29. College or High School: High School (I don't understand this one. I graduated from both, have friends from both. Hmm.)

30. Breakfast or Dinner: Dinner

31. Make up your own This or That for readers to answer in the comments section!

Popcorn or Pretzels? Both. Depends on what I'm drinking. Coke=Popcorn Pretzels=beer!

32. Beer or Wine? Uh, what do you think?

Football Quickie

I'm tired, y'all. This week, so far, has worn me the heck out. And those of you that have started putting up your Christmas decorations? (I'm looking at you Jennifer and Liz.) I'm just not sure we can be friends any longer.

Tomorrow morning is the start of football playoffs for #2. (For those of you keeping track, it's 3 weeks since they last played. Poor scheduling, dudes. These are 11-13 year olds. Their attention span isn't that long. I digress.) We've been 'officially' playing football since July 30. You do the math. This team is really good, lots of talent. I hope that they win.

*****

Need more football talk from me? Hop on over to Draft day Suit for this week's NFL Roundtable. There are special guests, too.

*****

This is all I can do. I told you I was tired.

Fifteen

Today, in addition to Thanksgiving, we celebrated fifteen years of marriage. Fifteen.

Fifteen years doesn't look anything like I thought it would. Of course, as a young person, there is no way to know or understand what marriage is really like, much less fifteen years of it. Then add kids? No way can anyone fully comprehend what that means at 20. Or 25 for that matter.

Fifteen years is shifting roles and renegotiating. It's knowing that Friday night isn't for partying, it's for sleeping after a long work week. It's doing the bills and getting the coffee ready for him because he works so hard and takes such good care of us.

Fifteen is seeing one child almost done with college. (Holy cow!) An almost teenager in middle school. Fifteen means I'm almost done with the elementary school with the third.

Fifteen has seen the passing of a parent, and the aging of others. Fifteen has been a nurse after surgery, the flu, child-birth, and the emergency room.

Fifteen is predictable fights on holidays and no one's feelings really being hurt. Fifteen means you've been there and had that fight enough times to know that neither one of you really mean it. It's the stress of the day. 

Fifteen has grown a friendship. Respect. Security. Comfort. Tenderness. Intimacy.

And yes, absolutely love. Unbelievably deep, unbelievably strong love. Stronger than you ever thought possible or could imagine all those years ago.

Thanksgiving Eve

Prep is winding down around here. Cranberries are done. Eggs have been boiled. Breakfast casserole is in the fridge for a morning bake. Potatoes are washed. We'll have 14 for dinner tomorrow. Most everything just has to be put together and baked or crockpotted. I even have more than enough serving dishes.

This year we have so so so much to be thankful for. This year, I'm giving thanks for:

• My husband and his great job with a great company, in an industry that, while not recession proof, is certainly resilient in these uncertain times. And, he is an amazing husband and father.
• My daughter, who will finish college in a few short weeks, has a great job of her own; who is willing to help; who is the definition of a God-filled young woman.
• My son, #1, who is discovering who he is through music and has a knack for things computer-related and online. He is a consientious student and a compassionate young man.
• My son, #2, who is both a young man and child. His infectious giggle makes me smile, as does his need to be touched, snuggled, every day.
• My parents, who, without them we couldn't be who or where we are today. They are helpful, fun, and generous, and two of the best friends I've ever had.
• Our extended family-our brothers and sisters, nieces, cousins, aunts and uncles. What an amazing group of people we get to call family and travel this life with. While some we see more than others, there are none that are ever far from our thoughts.
• Our community of friends. Community is the family that we choose, and how incredibly lucky that the community we have surrounded ourselves with are some top-notch human beings. Including the W family, the two R families, and my friend Debby. I couldn't do it with out them around me every day. 
• My community of online friends. These are the (mostly) women who support me every day, from afar, and never tell me I'm doing it wrong, even when I am. I can only hope that my support of them means as much as theirs does to me.
• Most importantly, I'm thankful for a merciful God, who forgives us, and for his son Jesus who died for us-you and me-so we could be here, at this place in time, and be a witness to his grace and for his grace. It's the greatest gift of all.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Much love, from my house to yours!

Party Week

My parents came in yesterday for Thanksgiving/Birthday week. We are so lucky that they are able to be here so often and for so many of our family occasions. So, on tap for this week:

• Family dinner for 10 on Sunday done
• Knott's Berry Farm with the kids and my mom on Monday done
• Bowling
• Grocery shopping
• taking HG and her boyfriend to the airport
• food prep
• blogging
• Thanksgiving for up to 14
• golf 
• football practice
• football game
• football coach 
• Getting HG and her boyfriend from the airport
• hopefully lunch with old friends
• new shoes!
• an anniversary
• back to school for the kids
• a certain someone turns 13 next week!

So, what are you up to this week?

My Favorite Worship Song

14 Things I Don't Miss From My Childhood

1. Having to go to bed. I'm a night owl and have always had the FOMS (fear of missing something,) so having someone tell me to go to bed kinda stunk.
2. The horrible feeling when the boy you liked, liked someone else.
3. Never getting the pair of Chemin-de-fer jeans that I wanted sooooooo badly. 
4. My mom and dad being gone when I had a duet in 6th grade. (It's an inside joke. It was probably the only thing they missed in my entire childhood. I mess with them when I can. )
5. Walking to the bus stop in the snow.
6. The feeling of never fitting in with the 'popular' crowd.
7. Peer pressure. While it didn't feel like peer pressure, the feeling that everyone else was doing something sucked. No one ever pressured me into doing anything, the pressure was all my own, seemingly to fit in. 
8. Thinking that being an adult would be better.
9. Having friends that always had boyfriends when I hardly ever did.
10. Teachers always telling my mom that "she could be doing so much better if she would just apply herself."
11. Fighting with my brother.
12. Getting a chest earlier than many of the other girls and having the boys always talk to me while looking about 12 inches below my eyes.
13. Thinking that I would marry this one certain guy. I wasted so many hours on pining away after him. 
14. Feeling fat and ugly. I can't miss what doesn't go away.

I'm no Schmutzie, with the 25 of these. Maybe if I had read her list, or Issa's, I may have gotten more ideas. Steal away, like Mary did!

Me over at Draft Day Suit

You guys. These are so much fun to make. Sometimes they are funnier than others. I totally go caught in a "That's what she said" moment this week. Or two.

The video is here: Draft Day Suit NFL Roundtable

We do them every week, so watch for them. I'll try to link to them more often because, seriously, fun. And I really think we're getting better. Or I'm just getting used to my face and voice on video. Whatever.

It totally counts as a post. *Hmph*

10 Things I Miss from my Childhood

Shamelessly stolen from Issa and Schmutzie. You should do it too. They did 25.

1- Riding my bike in our cul-de-sac until well after dark in the summer.
2- Watching the Disneyland fireworks from the corner of our street.
3- Not having to plan a meal.
4- Not having to pay bills.
5- Playing Barbies. (As a child. It's way different trying to play as an adult. Doesn't translate.)
6- Sitting at the kid's table and not being expected to do the dishes.
7- Riding the bus for ski club in jr. high.
8- Skiing.
9- The Chinese place in my Colorado hometown.
10- New dresses for Easter.
11- Putting on 'shows' after dinner.
12- Walking down to the drugstore at the end of the block to buy candy. With a quarter. And coming   home with a pocket full.
13- Sleepovers.
14- The feeling of butterflies when you run into the cute boy in the halls of the school.
15- My flat stomach.

5 of my Favorite Things

1- I am hopelessly addicted to Solitaire Blitz on Facebook. It's unhealthy, really, but it is my favorite time-waster right now. I try not to share anything from it because I know how annoying game notifications can be but they sometimes slip through. Sorry.

2- My favorite days of the week: Tuesday, because I go to bowling, and Wednesday because it's (usually) my coffee-with-girlfriends day. However, we're going tomorrow, so Viva Thursday!

3- My kid's grades. They all pretty much rock the academia, and that is certainly a favorite thing.

4- Seeing my husband smile, spontaneously, after a good (or great!) day at work.

5- My favorite TV shows (currently running)- Parenthood, Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, and, as always, Days of our Lives.

Mother-In-Law

I'm sitting here watching Parenthood, crying for the first time this season. Most everyone that I know has been crying watching Christina go through her cancer diagnosis but what got me? The scene with her mother-in-law.

I don't have a mother-in-law. My husband's mother passed away of melanoma when he was 19, on Christmas day. There was a woman that was married to my father-in-law, but unfortunately when he passed away, she disappeared. (Unfortunately for my boys. She was the only grandmother that they knew on that side of the family, so, when he passed they also lost a grandmother too. There's more to the story but that's the sad nutshell version.)

I would have loved to have met her. I know that she fiercely loved her children. I know that she was a sports mom, just like me. I often wonder what she would tell me about HD as a child. How did he get to be such a picky eater? Was he always going as a kid, like he does now? (Seriously, the man goes 100 miles an hour until he doesn't, and then he's dead asleep.)

In the show, Camille brings a sweater to Kristina on the morning of her first chemo treatment. Camille tells her that she was glad that she was wrong in thinking that Kristina wasn't right for her son Adam, and that she hopes that she knows that she's there for her.

I would hope that my mother-in--law would have felt the same way about me.

Monument Valley, AZ

This shot was taken back in July when we were on vacation. We drove to Colorado through Arizona and Utah. If you have never had a chance to see this part of the country, you should. It's rugged and raw and unbelievably beautiful. I have hundreds of shots like this one. I know that we'll return.

This next shot shows the intense colors of the desert there. There is pretty desert and ugly desert, and this one is absolutely beautiful. The scrub was pretty green after some rain showers in the previous days, and contrasted with the red rocks, the views were striking.

Have you ever been to Monument Valley? What did you think?

Saturday Win

If I was any good at this internet thing I would have a cropped screen shot of the status that I put on Facebook this morning....

"It's 10 and I've already cooked breakfast for the kids and cleaned up the kitchen. No matter what else happens today, I count it as a win!"

I had a pretty productive day. In addition to the above, I also accomplished the following:

• wrote 2 blog posts. (Saturday's post and one about the Lakers shake up over on Draft Day Suit.)
• visited with my neighbor, twice.
• started staining our bathroom cabinet doors. Again.
• FINALLY went to choose light fixtures for the bathroom. And, yes, we bought some and they will hopefully go in next weekend.
• started looking for hardware for the cabinets.
• had dinner with 2 of our favorite families. Pizza and beer, FTW!

You may have done more than that but believe me, there are many wins in that list. I'll take it. Especially the work on the bathroom and the lights. I may even be ready to show new pictures soon, but don't quote me. You know how these things go around here.

Adventures in Marriage

Cover text: hand in hand, so happy together, just you+me=love
Inside text: Wherever we go, whatever we do, just being with you, feels like a great adventure. I love, love, love you. Happy Valentine's Day (Papyrus card)

See, even Headless Dad gets into the adventure stuff. Marriage is an adventure if you let it be an adventure. Even though the day to day doesn't seem too exciting, it CAN be an adventure if you make it one.

This card will be framed soon. He finds great cards, and most of them are kept, and eventually framed. Someday I'll show you the others...

Smarty Pants

It's official. My kids are the smarticlest. (It is so a word.)

Both of my boys got straight A's. Again.

I'd love to say that they get it from HD and I but I never got straight A's in my whole life. Neither did HD. Nope. Not from us.

We'll keep them though. Someone has to take care of us in our old age, right?

*****

Have you been following the Draft Day Suit NFL Roundtables? They are wildly fun to do: we discuss 4 of the upcoming NFL games. Sometimes we sound smart, other times, not so much, but it's still entertaining. Hop on over and watch this week's shenanigans! And, we're the only ones that have the Hochuli Tracker!