Photos of....well...not much

I said a while back that I would post some pictures of the kiddos, so here goes. I don't feel comfortable posting pictures of their faces...privacy reasons...all that...might be silly...but anyway, this is the best I can do. How exciting can shots of the backs and tops of kids' heads be? Well, the answer is not very, but here they are.


AR, SA, and SJ


AR...looks real safe playing like that, huh?


SA getting into trouble. BTW, those are MY Elmo slippers in the background. We had a problem with the kids all in a battle to get them off my feet, so they've been put away for awhile.


SJ - I think this was Christmas morning.

Thumbs Up

Because I can't think of anything else to say, here are a few movie reviews - some old, some new.

Walk the Line - Pretty good flick. The acting was amazing and the story very interesting. I had to go to the bathroom about ten minutes into the movie, but was sitting in the last seat of a long row with only one exit. There was no way I was stumbling over a long row of people unless I was about to lose my battle with my bladder, so I held it till the end. I guess it goes to show it's a good movie when I could go several scenes without thinking of how uncomfortable I was. And Joaquin Phoenix...mmm-mmmmm. I don't normally find him very attractive and never found Johnny Cash attractive, but Joaquin AS Johnny Cash...yummy. Out of a 10 I would give it a 9.

The Family Stone - I heard mixed reviews on this so I didn't know what to expect. It probably helped that I didn't go in expecting a great movie. Being a die-hard Sex in the City fan, I think I was hungry for some Sarah Jessica Parker. It was way predictable and had several roll-your-eyes-like-that-would-ever-happen moments, but all in all it was good. Out of a 10 I would give it a 7.

Taking Lives - Older movie, but new to me. Bleh. Way too predictable, but I was extremely bored and there was nothing else on, so I made it to the end. I was more focused on how gorgeous Angelina is and how huge her lips are more than the actual story. I really don't want to like her, but I got to hand it to her, she is beautiful. Out of a 10 I give it a 5.

War of the Worlds - Mmmmm...I liked it. Didn't love it, but thought it was pretty good overall. I can't stand Tom Cruise and I sometimes have a hard time getting past that when watching a movie, but I got over that about 30 minutes into the movie. *SPOILER ALERT* I did think there were a few ridiculous scenes, but what do you expect for a sci-fi movie? You can't exactly expect it to be anywhere near realistic. When the madness first started and Tom was rushing around watching the streets crumble, his kids were back in his house. No mother would leave her kids by themselves while she was outside checking out the aliens. Wouldn't happen. But this was a movie. And his son? Of course we all knew he would be alive and well waiting for them in Boston. How did we know that? Duh. And when they got to Boston, it looked like it hadn't been touched. His ex-in-laws looked like they were dressed in their Sunday best. But again, I know I'm overanalyzing. It's just a movie, right? Out of a 10 I give it a 7-1/2.

Husband's Say the Darndest Things

The other night my husband said, "I don't see why we can't have sex everyday."

Now, someone please tell me, how did he make it through four years of college, four years of med school, and four years of residency and come out saying something stupid like THAT?

Random Rubbish

First I want to thank all my friends here for all your thoughts and prayers for my Grandpa. I've really "met" a lot of great people out here in BlogLand.

Grandpa...well...it doesn't seem right to say he's better really. They said he'll probably make it two to three weeks as opposed to the original few days to a week prediction. The end result is still the same, so I guess all we can do is be thankful that we have a few more days with this wonderful man.

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I'm not wanting to make a big deal about it, because making a big deal of something has seemed to have set me up for failure in the past...but...I'm doing Weight Watchers again and so far I am pretty happy with the results. The scale isn't so impressive - in three weeks I have only lost two pounds, but my clothes are all fitting better. And...didn't I hear Oprah say once that you shouldn't go by the pounds lost but by how your clothes fit? And she also said you shouldn't weigh yourself the first two months of a diet. I'll go with what she said. :)

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I'm getting out two nights in a row...then again this Saturday. Stand back! This woman's wild! Tonight I'm going to a Pampered Chef party down the street. Yes, another one. I don't know that I could possibly fit another Pampered Chef product in my kitchen, but I'm excited to get out nonetheless. Then tomorrow night I'm going out for dinner and a movie with a few of my cousins. Saturday night RD and I are going out to dinner. I left a message with our regular sitter down the street, but haven't heard back from her. No worries though, my mom, crazy old bat that she is, was kind enough to offer to watch if our sitter can not. So we've got a date! Woo hoo!

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The kids? They're doing well. Cute as ever. Mischievous as ever. They're sitting around in a huddle eating Cheerios off the floor as I type. They're growing so fast. I do believe I owe y'all some pictures, don't I? I'm sure I have plenty of 'anonymous' shots of the kids I can post. I'll to see what I can dig up.

I might not be around for a few days

My grandpa is being moved to a hospice today and they don't expect him to last much longer than a week. I'm just not in the mood to gab on here right now.

I'll be back soon.

Five Weird Habits I Have

The first player of this game starts with the topic "five weird habits I have" and people who get tagged then write an entry about their five weird habits as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose the next five people to be tagged and link to their web journals. Don't forget to leave a comment in their blog or journal that says you have been tagged? (assuming they take comments) and tell them to read yours.

1. I type what people are saying 'in my head' as people are talking or while I'm watching something on television. Sometimes my fingers will be going through the motions while my hands are resting on my lap. It's very strange and I have no reason why, it's just a weird thing I started doing years ago. Maybe that's why people are always telling me what a great listener I am...little do they know I'm transcribing what they're saying in my head.
   
2. While I'm trying to get to sleep at night, I'll usually play out some event that's coming up in my head (e.g., holiday party, some random get-together, etc.). And usually, no always, in this play-by-play fantasy, I'm prettier, much thinner, and dressed to kill.
   
3. Now this I shouldn't share. It's gross and weird, but weird IS the point of this whole thing, right? I like the smell of my own gas. But...doesn't everybody? Not mine I mean, but their own.
   
4. I always salt my food before tasting it. I love salt. LOVE IT. This frustrates RD to no end that I won't at least taste it first, but I can't not do it.
   
5. When reading a book, before I get into it, I have to have a face for each character. It sometimes takes me awhile to get started because I'm trying to find the right face for the characters. I have to have a mental picture of each person. I usually use famous actors or actresses, but more recently I've used neighbors or friends.

I tag Christine , Mommy D, Girl, Terri, and Grace.

I married a good man

Just a little sweet something I want to throw RD's way. One thing I really love about him is that he doesn't hesitate to tell me he loves me while he has an audience.

When he calls me from work I can hear the hustle and bustle going on around him, but he always tells me he loves me. Not softly, not in a whisper, never holding back.

It may seem silly, but that little something really makes me smile.

Mommy's turn to say no...

...and why is it so hard?

Never in a million years would I guess this would be a hard thing for me to do. My whole life I've dreamed of being a stay-at-home mom. Now I'm living my dream and...on most days...enjoying it. So why do I get a pang of sadness when my old workplace calls and offers me a job and I have to say no?

I miss adult conversation. That's number one. I miss having a reason to get dressed in the morning. A reason to fix my hair. Getting out of the housePERIOD. And I really liked my job. I didn't like it right away. I came from a great workplace where I had great friends, but I was burned out - and my job performance showed it. I just didn't care anymore. I had no respect for my "bosses" and I wasn't challenged in the least. I looked at work as a place to gab with my girlfriends, not a place to climb the corporate ladder. I just didn't care anymore. So when I went to L, it was quite a change. I worked on my own. No bosses hovering over me to make sure I was doing my job. The first year was pretty blah. It was a new position, so when I asked for my job description, what was a typical day, they would look at each other and shrug. They didn't know. All they knew was that the big shots of the company wanted an assistant. What this assistant was to do, no one knew, but what they did know was that these guys wanted someone at their beck and call. That's where I came in. It took awhile for me to feel comfortable in this role, working for these men that everyone else in the company felt incredibly intimidated by, but it didn't take me too long to find my niche. These guys with the big bucks put their pants on the same way we do every morning, what's the big deal? By not showing fear, by not being a 'yes-person,' I earned their trust and respect. I grew to love my job and love the people I worked for.

So my old boss (HR-VP...the big wigs paid my salary out of their pockets, but didn't want to be my go-to person for all the little crap) called me this morning and said she wanted to offer me a job. They were looking for someone like me, a stay-at-home mom that would be interested in working 15-20 hours a week. It wouldn't be doing what I did before, I know that much, and we didn't get into details since I felt it was pointless. I knew I couldn't do it, so why bother. But now I feel a bit of sadness wishing I could have said yes. Why does that make me feel so guilty?

Silly, I know. I couldn't wait to "retire," and now I'm sad I can't go back? I would like to work part-time eventually. Maybe when the kids start kindergarten. I'll want to do something at that point, but right now it doesn't make sense. I'd have to find daycare for the kids for what? I don't need the paycheck. We're fine if I never went back to work again, but that's not the point. Ugh.

I'm rambling. Probably not making much sense, I just needed to vent. Thanks. GrumbleGrumbleArgh

Let me guess...

No?

Everything, and I mean everything out of our kids' mouths lately is no.

"Do you want your milk?"

"No."

"Cover your mouth when you cough."

"No."

"Come here."

"No."

"Lie down like a big boy."

"No."

"Do you want more?"

"No."

"Give mommy a kiss."

muh-wah!

Thanks for throwing mom a bone!

"Let's go upstairs."

"No."

"Give that back to your brother."

"No."

"(To AR) My goodness you are the cutest thing ever."

AR nods rapidly in agreement with big smile.

Damn I love my difficult, challenging, authority-phobic children.

Bathroom's Done!

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's really hard to tell what the color looks like in the picture, but you sort of get an idea. They plastered it first, so there's a nice texture to the wall. It looks khaki in the daylight, then at night you can see an olive tone to it.

I finally have my sanctuary back! The overall experience sucked so bad though that RD has sworn to never hire anyone else to do something for us again. We're big do-it-yourself people, but thought we'd hire out for this one. In hindsight, not the best decision. We are happy with the foyer, and in the end we are happy with the bathroom, but it was just not a pleasant experience.

First the bathroom turned out awful. I should've taken a picture to show you the yuck on our walls that he called Venetian plaster, but it made me sick to even bother. Then when he drops this girl off to apply the plaster (for the 'do over' job), she starts asking me if it looks okay because she's never done this before and isn't sure what it's supposed to look like. Mmmmm-kay, so you're telling me we're spending a totally unnecessary large chunk of money to have this so-called professional do something that we could've just as easy of done ourselves? Irk. Gack. Damn it. Hind sight...it's a bitchbitchbitch. Oh well. It's done. It's over. We're happy. So glad it's finished.

Week in Review

I know I've been MIA. Even though the holidays have passed, it's still been busy around here.

My birthday came and went. I swear as soon as I hit 30, birthdays went downhill for me. My 30th birthday I was in the hospital with the flu, pregnant, while RD was in Denver for a wedding. My 31st birthday RD worked and the kids and I were sick. This year RD worked AND didn't even remember it was my birthday until the day was half over. Nice. Real nice. He did bring me flowers when he got off work, but hating to be such a "girl," it really hurt that he forgot. He didn't seem to think it was a big deal, but then I'm the one that gets all crazy excited over birthdays and holidays; he could care less. But since I care so much, isn't that exactly why he should try harder? That's my theory anyway. He doesn't seem to agree. Boo hoo. Oh well. Moving on.

My birthday gift...LOVE IT. Before the hubster gets slack for what he got me, let me first say that he didn't ask me what I wanted, I told him what I wanted AND went out and bought it before Christmas because I just couldn't wait until December 27. And the 20% off coupon I had expired December 26, and who wants to go shopping then? Not me! I got the Dyson DC14 Animal vacuum. The first night I had it I vacuumed at 10 o'clock that night because I was so excited. What does that say about me? All I can say is...whoa. RD got off late that night and when he came to bed he said, "Our carpet's amazing. I didn't even turn the lights on and I could feel it all fluffy under my feet." Yea. We're both sick.

New Year's. Eh. RD had to work at 11 p.m., so nothing planned. We made prime rib for dinner. It was delicious. 6 pounds was the smallest size Sam's had, so we've been eating prime lib for lunch, snacks, breakfast, you name it. We just finished it up lastnight.

Christmas stuff is down. It was actually hard for me this year. I don't know if it's the new house, the kids, or what, but I hated doing it. Not the actual act of it, but hate it being gone. This is strange for me because in the past I was always one who wanted it all down, all sign of Christmas gone December 26. This year was different. It just seemed to come and go too fast this year.

One big thing...for me anyway...is I've been catching up with an old friend. Someone I hadn't seen or talked to since my wedding. It deserves a whole post in itself, so that will have to wait for another day.

Well the kids are screaming, so naptime's over. I hope everyone's week is going well!