Vanilla Icing

Denim & Dice

So....um....yeah....remember those Christmas pictures? I really didn't get to them. I know, I know---that's awful of me. But let me explain why.

I had to go shopping.

Yes, that's right. Shopping. Shopping before my shopping trip.

I needed some jeans (remember post from the other day?) because my usual attire of skirt and some form of heels just won't cut it walking in NYC, especially when it's cold. I've forgotten how much fun it is to shop for jeans.

I think they only make jeans for pot-bellied tooth pick legged freaks.

There! I've said it and I don't care how mean it was. I had the worst time EVER trying to find a pair of jeans. Apparently I'm supposed to be shapped like an apple if I want to wear jeans and not like an hour-glass shape. There were some jeans that I tried on that I could have rested a baseball on one of my hips and the jeans would have still fit but were simulataneously working on cutting off circulation to my upper thighs.

Damn all this running/rollerblading/biking. I think running only is what one does to achieve tooth-pick legs with which one can then stuff one's legs into jeans designed for the above mentioned freaks.

If you are wondering who makes these types of jeans.... Old Navy, American Eagle and the Gap make these jeans. Abercrombie & Fitch do not make these sort of jeans but I didn't want to spend $80 on one pair. No, that's not true. I knew I wouldn't possibly leave the store with only one item so that's why I avoided buying that pair of jeans.

I finally did find some jeans at Ann Taylor of all places. Two pairs in two different shades and styles. A bootcut and a flare. And um, a sweater. And a ummmm, blouse. But that's it! Both shirts are completely good for jeans or work so they were necessary as I have very little in the way of warm things to wear for work.

OKAY. I'm sure everyone is tired of hearing my denim woes. I've one picture to share.

We weren't gambling! I swear! Maia found a handful of dice in the kitchen junk drawer (don't you dare try to say you don't have one--i know you do!) and we made up an impromptu game. Partway through I realized it was a good counting/adding/greather than less than lesson. Go me! I love when I don't even realize we were playing a 'learning' game.

If anyone out there is dying to know how we played it--Here's how and then I must dash off to finish packing!

Each person rolls two dice and counts the number of pips they have (counting and adding). Who ever has the greater amount of pips wins a popcorn kernel (greater/less than). Or a bean, or a lentil, or whatever you have on hand. Then when the stock of kernels/beans/lentils count to see who has more to find out who wins the game.

Nice and easy. I don't mean to insinuate anyone out there is a simpleton because I actually took the time to type how to play!

Whew!

Inside Christmas decorations are up!  After last night's decorating whirlwind and cleaning up afterwards I had no energy left to take pictures. 

Tomorrow I am leaving for NYC for a girls-only weekend shopping trip!  I am so excited!!!!

If there's free wireless...I plan on posting from the hotel.  If it's not free...I plan on posting from the hotel. =P  I can't be away that long from SparkPeople!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Oh Christmas Tree! Crazy Day!

Yesterday was back to school for the kids after the Thanksgiving Break. I had to walk them into school to talk to the principal about a matter and then off to work. Work actually kept me busy the entire time. In between being busy at work I snagged a location for the Daisy Scouts Troop that I am working on setting up. I have the location all reserved and ready to go starting in January. =D

It felt like I was hardly home with the kids before it was time to leave and pick up Rick from work. (We had carpooled earlier that day.) From there we went to dinner and then went to choose a Christmas tree. This post was supposed to be about us decorating the tree but we got home later than expected and by the time the tree was set up it was an hour past the children's bedtime. The boughs of the tree still hadn't relaxed and come down so we wouldn't have been able to decorate it anyhow.

Hopefully, tonight we'll be decorating the tree. After school. After homework. After dance class. After coffee shop run with Tristyn. After dinner. But before bathrime and before bedtime.

I think it can be squeezed in.

What a Night!

Rick, our friend Levy, and I went to the Pittsburgh Steelers Game last night. Fortunately it wasn't cold at all....we were having typical strange Pittsburgh weather where the day before had been about 38 degrees and then last night was about 60 degrees.

Then it started to rain.

And rain.

And rain.

We couldn't find ponchos outside of the stadium and Rick ended up buying us all large trash bags. Yup, you heard me right. Double-ply big black hefty trash bags. I really didn't want to put it on; I protested I had a waterproof coat (and I did!) but in the end I put it on. Turned out to be a good thing because it rained hard enough that I do think it would have sorely tested the limits of my Columbia jacket. On the other hand.....

Let's just say there are few disadvantages to losing weight. Very few. I found out one of them last night. For those who don't know me, I wear skirts and dresses almost exclusively. The only exceptions are exercising (I wear soft workout pants), skiing (ski pants, duh!) and Steelers games when it's cold. For Steeler's games I wear jeans with some sort of soft pants under it. In this case it was a near pair of long underwear Rick forced me to buy for the sake of additional warmth. Anyways, due to weight loss this pair of jeans was clinging to my hips and just barely which mean that the bottoms of them dragged in the water that was streaming like miniature rivers down the roads and sidewalks. I almost wished I would have had the kids with me because my jeans would have served very well as an example of how a tree uses its roots to draw water up. Before we had even gotten into the stadium my jeans (and goofy looking long underwear underneath!) were wet all the way up to midthigh. It was not pleasant.

It continued raining for almost the entire game with the temperature gradually dropping. Underneath my trash bag I'd like to say I didn't get any wetter but in fact I did, a little. Due to body heat there was enough condensation on the underside of the bag that every so often a water droplet would merge with other little water droplets and splat right onto one of the few previous dry spots. =(

Nevertheless, the 3 of us kept good spirits about us and had a good time. This poor girl didn't:

If you aren't sure who I'm talking about look closely. She and her boyfriend were 2 rows ahead of us. That's her sitting on his lap blocking his view. For about 30 minutes leading up to this moment (and this was before halftime) she had been grabbing him and trying to physically turn his head away from the game with her hands. Just barely you could hear her saying 'Baby, why won't you look at me? Look at me!' and things of that nature. It wasn't long before some of the people around us were shouting back 'Because he's trying to watch the game!' She took no heed. I felt bad for the man because I think it must have been his first game because those two were not the usual season ticket holders for those 2 seats; we would have recognized them otherwise.

The woman continued trying to get his attention and in between plays the man tried to soothe her. None of us could tell if she was drunk--no one had seen her drinking. A few times she looked ready to cry. Once she got his sopping wet terrible towel and attempted to whack him on the head with it. What she really did was smack the woman sitting behind her boyfriend! Her boyfriend wrestled the towel from her and a few minutes later she attempted to climb onto his lap.

Oh, poor man, you didn't fight hard enough! You should have fought harder to keep her out of your lap. Look at the picture again:

That was SECONDS before the woman BIT HIM. Yes, that's right. BIT HIM. He yelled and shoved her off and the whole crowd gasped--because who was watching the game at this point?--and some other man yelled out 'Holy $^#*! She bit him!' The boyfriend stood up, the girl tumbling from his lap and started touching his upper lip. He pulled his fingers away and looked at them.

She drew blood.

I am not kidding. I have never seen anything like it at a football game. I've seen drunks fall down the steps, spill stuff, fall asleep in the stands and get into fights. But I have never seen a woman behave like that and then bite her boyfriend AND draw blood! It was crazy.

The poor man finally left and you could just barely hear his voice but it was trembling with rage. I don't know how he kept his cool with her. I hate to say it but she really did deserve to be spanked because she was behaving like a child! (Not that I spank my children, or believe in that really but typing those words in I think helps get the point across of how childish she was behaving) I felt awful for the man because it was likely his first game at the stadium and likely his last and he didn't even get to see the whole thing. It's very, very hard to get Steeler's tickets--especially in the section we are lucky enough to sit in.

Misty Monday Morning

It was a long, slow nice weekend. Just the type that was needed.

On Friday, Rick and I met his sister and his mum to go see a movie. We saw American Gangster which I did not like at all. It was really long and it really tried to glorify the gangster guy into some great person when really he was a slimy scuzball who did nothing but sell drugs. Sure, there were a few clips of him handing out some turkeys to some poor people and buying his mother a house but it seemed like that sort of thing was only added in right at the end so he didn't look too evil. I really didn't enjoy it at all. Afterwards, we went to a restaurant for a very quiet dinner. Rick and I parted from his mum and sister once dinner was over and went to Barnes & Noble where I found out that the concluding book by an author I've been reading for a long time was out!

Saturday morning we lounged around until it was time to get REALLY bundled up to go see the University of Pitt football game. It was cold but I fear not as cold as it will be tonight at the Steeler's game! By the time we got home the dogs were itching to get out and do something and we took them up to the field to let them have some off-leash running around time. Turkey leftovers were for dinner (I'm so tired of turkey!) and then we made a last minute decision to go out shopping instead of going to a movie again.

Generally, the trip to the mall was unexciting but ultimately profitable because I was able to convince Rick to get himself a new ski jacket. The one he had had was a nice jacket and warm but not waterproof--which is something useful to have when sitting in the rain at a football game and also when skiing.

Sunday was something new for us. As I have mentioned before, we've talked to the missionaries around the corner from us a good deal. We went to a service. It was quite different from the Catholic masses I grew used to in my childhood and I rather liked it.

One thing that was talked about was based off this:

26 For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is acompelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.
27 Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
28 For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their breward.
29 But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned.

There was a big discussion that followed and if I were to attempt (albeit probably poorly) to sum it down into one word I would say 'initiative.' A few people sighted some easy to see examples about how you shouldn't go about only doing things on a checklist but how you should also do the things that need to be done--that you can see is right to do, etc etc. One person made the extremely simple--but good--example of how when at the science center he saw an employee who was obviously upper management bend down to retrieve a piece of trash to throw away. It wasn't her job to do that but she was there and saw the need and did it.

Anyways, it really made me think. I think that it is good to live like that but I wonder when is a good point to say 'okay, enough is enough?' They talked about that too and it seems like it was a general consensus to keep giving, keep doing, etc. but I think that it is not so simple. I think that there comes a certain point when you might be doing more, giving more, etc. and it starts to have a negative effect on you and/or your family. I think at that point it is okay to not give more of yourself because at that point the positive effects you might be doing for someone else is having negative effects on the well being of you and/or your family.

One person talked about how their mother was always sharing food with other poor families when growing up and it made them angry because they were poor too. But--as they grew older they realized that they were able to share, that the positive it brought about was greater than the negative.

This sort of attitude I think stretches into all areas of life. From the simple things like keeping your home clean and comforting to helping others.

Okay! Enough of my mid-morning gibberish--I'm not sure I've made any sense anyhow!

Sleep or Shop?

Well neither of those things actually. I've gotten quite enough of the first one. After yesterday I went to bed at 8:30 and slept---oh a good 13 hours! =S That's awful isn't it? I think I must have needed it and today I feel completely re-energized. But that doesn't mean I'm venturing out to go shopping today.

Layla is still recovering from her tukey feast of 2 small pieces. She turned up her nose at the offer of a third. I think we will be taking a bit of inspiration from Layla and spend the majority of the day relaxing and doing pretty much nothing until later when we will meet up with my mother and sister in law for a movie.

Best wishes for those brave enough to go out on Black Friday!

No Turkey Pictures Here!

The awful night of sleep filled with half nightmares about dinner being ruined didn't come true.  Only one minor mishap.  The bread.  I think it was because I was getting a little cocky about being able to make it and I was meant to be taken down a peg or tow.  But aside from my bread rising too much and collapsing somewhat (though remaining fairly tasty and edible once baked) I think our Thanksgiving went pretty well.   I'll spare everyone further details because all across blog land there is mostly Turkey Talk and after all day in the kitchen I don't want to even think about Thanksgiving anymore. 

So without further ado...here are a few pictures...

Tristyn was mad because I made him go outside to play for awhile and his idea of getting even was to hide from the camera.

Combatting Boredom

I've been finding new ways to divert my attention while doing other things.  For example, at the office, I've little to nothing to do.  I enter in some information, send a fax or two, make a phone call and answer the phone when it rings (which doesn't happen over much) and if I'm lucky I might get to scan something in or type up something.  The amount of work I have to do--or maybe more accurately--the work I don't have to do is because of a few things.

1.  I'm still 'new.'  <----It is the 5th week.
2.  Maybe the people there don't want to overwhelm me?  <----Very thoughtful.
3.  Because I work a 'short' day maybe it isn't worth it to teach me something else?  <---- Probably can't teach me much until I get licensed.
4.  Perhaps I'm in some experiment where someone unseen is observing me to see how well I can appear to be busy?  <-----Yeah.  Number 4 has to be it.

Well Mr. Unseen, remember this morning when I was bent over my desk studiously writing something?  I was very hard at work.  Very hard.

I just couldn't get this darn sheep to look like a sheep!!!  I must have rubbed him out with my eraser ten times to start over again.  I was just about to add a cow to my menagerie except the phone rang and it made me forget--do cows' ears stick up? out? or down?

Hopefully, over Thanksgiving Break I'll get these little guys embroidered onto something.  It's been awhile since I've done anything crafty and this will be my first time embroidering something of my own (extremely amateur) design.

It's been nearly 2 months since the majority of my workouts have moved inside.  Now that I'm at the office 5 days a week, I haven't anytime to exercise during the day which means I have to do it at night.  By the time I get the kids, we do some things together, I cook dinner, we eat and clean up after the meal it's too dark to go outside.  The treadmill was REALLY getting boring.  It faced a wall in our office.  It took no time at all to get bored of all the songs on my ipod--all 1876 of them--and to get cross-eyed trying to read while working out.  Last night Rick helped me (okay, he did it and I pretended to help) move it into another room on our 2nd floor where we have a television.  I'm not a big television watcher (I watch Prison Break and now that's not on again until January) but with remote in hand I can flip through several shows at once to keep me distracted.  Today I watched America's Next Top Model, Sell this House and Mama's Family--that 'last' button on the remote really helps when alternating shows!

See the remote in the cup holder?  It has usurped the ipod. =P

You Can Never Go Back but You CAN Go Forward!!

A few months ago, I wrote about getting back in touch with my friend, Jodi, from the Air Force. We've stayed in touch since and it's been really nice! Except for one thing---I remember how much I miss her!! All sorts of memories have come flooding back. Anyways, these couple of pictures are for her =)

Do you remember this view? Everytime we left the base this is what we saw.

How about this place? I think we went here once and then not being tourists we never went back.

I don't think she'll quite remember the first picture. That picture is the door to a walled garden we used to traipse through at night sometimes but never bothered to look for in the day. When Rick took me back to California a few years ago we accidentally stumbled upon the garden--and boy did it look strange in the light!

I miss California too! Jodi lives in TEXAS now. That's right TEXAS. The one place we vowed (because of bootcamp) never to go back to. That means if I ever go visit her I'm going to have to join her in breaking our vow! I think it would be worth it. =)

Fairies & Fish

The fairy magnets are by Laura at Little Orange Kitchen. I actually won them. Yup, me who has never really won anything. Laura had a giveaway in honor of her Etsy shop opening and these sweet fairy magents came with the black and white wallet. I wonder if she knew ahead of time how much I like fairies or if it was just coincidence!

The fish is by Tristyn. I'm always finding little sketches here and there through out the house that he has done. (He's like me and my stuffing of books everywhere) The sheer amount of sketches that can be found at any given time in various places is such a common occurence that I find myself sometimes scooping up one or two and tossing them out--otherwise I'd be up to my eyeballs in drawings! I do find myself feeling somewhat guilty for doing so, not because he notices--there's that many of them--but because you never know if he might one day be a famous artist and I'll regret every early 'work' that I thoughtlessly pitched. =)