These are a few of my favorite things...

Favorite things about my early Thanksgiving celebration with the family:

-Playing Twister!

-Introducing Bill to the parentals, and knowing without a doubt that they genuinely like him. (Although, seriously... what's not to like?)

-Not having to cook a gosh-darn thing (other than a chocolate cream pie the previous night).

-Gin & Tonic, made by my dad... and this conversation:

Emilee: "Can I have someone's lime?"
Me: "Sure, Em. You can have mine."
Jenni: (AFTER, Emilee has put the lime into her mouth, of course) "You DO realize that lime has been soaking in alcohol, right?"

-Winning Trivial Pursuit with Jenni (and Bill)... against our far more knowledgeable parents.

-Being in a room filled to the brim with people I love.

Sleep talking

When I woke up this morning, Bill told me I had been talking in my sleep. He said that I kept saying the word "Grammie." And when he asked me what I was talking about, I said, "couch."

What was THAT all about? I can't remember what I was dreaming, and I don't know how Grammie (or WHICH Grammie) is connected with a couch.

But I wish I did.

Gobble gobble gobble

Thanksgiving is coming early this year. On Saturday, to be exact. Since I don't have the kids for the actual Thanksgiving day, my family is gathering this weekend for an early celebration. At my little apartment. It will be crowded and loud and absolutely wonderful. Also, a little bit nerve-wracking, because I'm introducing Bill to my parents for the first time, and I want SO badly for them to like him. I would never tell him this, but they can be a bit picky. I think they've genuinely liked maybe three of four of my boyfriends in all the time that I've been dating (approximately 13 years now). And their opinion matters a lot. Don't get me wrong... I haven't broken up with anyone I was dating just because they didn't like or approve of the guy, but it has weighed heavily on my decision a few times. (Don't worry... I won't share any of this with Bill. He will be blissfully unaware.) And honestly, I think they're going to like him. He reminds me of my dad in a way, and he and my parents actually know some of the same people. So here's hoping...

And another thing... I think Mom and Dad are going to make me cook a little bit more of Thanksgiving dinner than they did last year. This could be scary.

Farmer wants a wha...?

There's a good possiblity that reality tv is reaching even lower lows in "Farmer Wants a Wife." The dude totally just broke up with one of the girls by putting her name in fireworks in front of the whole town at the county fair. However, does that mean I don't watch the show? Heeeeell no. I am, apparently, a glutton for punishment. *Sigh*

So tomorrow is Jenni's birthday, and since her wonderful husband is taking her on some kind of surprise trip to celebrate, our family got together tonight instead. The ten of us met at our favorite local Chinese restaurant and chowed down, before heading back to my apartment for some delish cake with whipped cream and fruit on top. Oh-so-yummy.

I love hanging out with my family. Sure, we argue... we're a normal family. But it's also completely obvious that we all love each other to pieces. And when we're together, we laugh a TON. So yay, Jenni! Thank you for having a birthday. ;o)

(Too?) young at heart.

So my thirteen year-old niece is here for two months. The rest of the year, she lives in North Dakota with her mom, but for 8 lovely weeks, WE get her all to ourselves. And the good news is, she's fairly awesome, as far as teens go. I've been told (and know, from personal experience) that teen girls are generally pretty horrendous, but S is nothing of the kind. At least not when I'm around... ;)

Anyway, yesterday I drove to Shea's house so we could do some girl bonding. (That would be pizza and Game Cube, naturally.) And when I got there, I realized something. My niece and I were both wearing outfits from Aeropostale (which, for the record, wasn't even founded until I was 7 years old). The only differences were that my shorts were shorter, and I was wearing a tank top while she was wearing a t-shirt. Hmmm.

Just so you know, in my professional life, I dress completely appropriately. Or, at least pretty darn close to my age. But when I have a day off... apparently I dress like a teenager. According to my sister, sometimes that comes across as a little hoochie-mama-ish.

And guess what? I have no plans to change that any time soon. So there.

P.S. Today I signed up for NaBloPoMo's June theme, which is Home. I'm supposed to blog every day again... so let's see if I did better than I did in November.

131.2

Yes, that’s how many inches of snow we’ve had this year. And that, my friends, is a record. Boo-yeah. We totally rock. Can I get a what-what?

And now I’m gonna change the subject so I don’t continue being such a lame-o.

Today at work, a man in his 70’s came to the desk to ask me where the tax forms were, and since I was heading in that direction anyway, I led him to them. As he was leaving, he said to me, "You’re a good girl." For some reason, it reminded me of my Grampie Siegel, and as I was driving home from work I got that chokey feeling that I STILL have once in awhile, even though he’s been gone for a year. And while that feeling totally sucks, it makes me smile just a little bit. Because I was lucky enough to have this amazing person in my life for almost 27 whole years. I have this completely awesome family, and some people just don’t. I have friends who don’t talk to/spend time with their immediate family, let alone the extended relatives.

(Sorry... sometimes when I get down about things, it helps to remind myself how very blessed I really am. And today, you people were the lucky recipients of my reminder. So, thanks for listening).

Great, just great.

On the way into work this morning, I was listening to one of the local classic rock stations (which, for the record, I tune into for the talk, not the music), and the jockeys made the assertation that 70-80% of people don't know any of their great-grandparents' first or last names.

This strikes me as a little bit sad. I actually grew up knowing two of my great-grandparents (my mom's maternal grandparents) fairly well. And I spent some time with both of my dad's grandmothers.

Mom's grandparents- Florris and Hagel Robinson Johnston. Nannie passed away in 1998, Grampa in 2004 (I think). Before she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, Nannie used to serve grilled cheese sandwiches and homemade applesauce whenever we came for a visit. Grampa went by "Rob" because, well, if YOUR name was Hagel, wouldn't you pick a different nickname too?

Dad's grandmothers- Rhoda Potter and Emily Siegel. I don't actually remember a lot about these two (Gram Siegel passed away when I was 8, Gram Potter when I was 12 or so) but Gram Potter gave me my first Annalee doll (an old granny mouse making a quilt).

I guess I hadn't realized how rare it is to have known one's great-grandparents... and the cool thing is that my kids are getting to know theirs too. (They have 5 great-grandmothers and 2 great-grandfathers).

See? I knew there was a good argument for having kids young. ;o)

O Christmas tree, O Christamas tree...

Yes, yes, I missed another day. I'm actually really glad this NaBloPoMo business is almost over with. Sheesh.

Anyway, the reason I missed yet another day of blogging was this: I was way too busy having a real life. =P

-Took the kids to church in the morning, so they could spend a little more time with my parents before they (my parents, not my children) headed back to Florida.
-Did two loads of laundry, while simultaneously serving lunch and visiting a little more with the parentals.
-Went to a Christmas tree farm to pick out our Christmas tree. Shaws Guy came too, and a loooovely time was had by all.
-SG took us out for dinner at a local diner. I love the diner atmosphere, and I'm so glad we still have one here. The little man had pancakes. For dinner! Needless to say, he was thrilled. The princess ate probably 6 bites of her dinner. She was apparently much too busy playing tic-tac-toe and hangman (which she kept calling "hangerman") with SG to be bothered with eating.
-SG, Brian, Brian's son, my kids and I decorated the Christmas tree/drank hot chocolate and egg nog, and just generally had a good time.
-Slept like the dead. All of us.

And now I'm back. And tired. But extremely happy.

Holy Day-After-Thanksgiving-Sales, Batman!

I am pooped.

In bed at 1:30 am (after a midnight snack of leftover Thanksgiving fare... oh so yummy), and up at 6 am to hit the Black Friday sales with my parents and sisters, I'm currently looking at my computer clock, which SAYS 3:26 pm, but which I KNOW can't be right, because it really feels more like, oh midnight or something riduculously late like that. I can barely keep my eyes open, but I HAVE to, because I am about to go meet Shaws Guy's parents for the first time, and I'd really like to not fall asleep in whatever his mother is cooking for dinner. That would be so not attractive, and I have a feeling it wouldn't make for the best first impression.

The good news is that as a product of today's little shopping spree, come Christmas morning I will be the favorite person of my children, as I managed to score a wicked cool scooter for each of them. Go, me!

Now, forgive me for the sad length of this post, but I feel the need to conch out for half an hour or so before I have to leave.

*Snore*

The fam

I love my family.

They're goofy and they're weird and they fart all the freaking time. (Seriously, you would think I served up beans and cabbage for Thanksgiving dinner, instead of turkey. Sheesh).

But they make me laugh harder than I laugh with just about anyone else. And they prove again and again that they are always THERE. You know, not just there. THERE.

And guess what else? They did pretty much all the cooking. Dad did make me stick my arm into the turkey, which, let me tell you, was no fun at all. But other than that, they did almost everything. Hey... maybe hosting Thanksgiving at your house means you're off the hook for the whole cooking thing, because people feel a little bit guilty. Like they should be helping a ton, since dinner's not happening at their house. Or something. Either way, it was awesome.

And Dad painted the Princess's toenails. I have the coolest dad ever. No joke.

So now I think I should take a shower and get ready for bed, because my family is being totally crazy and taking part in Black Friday tomorrow. And we're starting EARLY. Woot.