Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Ahhh...it's here. And I finally feel it! I'm finally in the Christmas spirit peeps!

Momma Redfearn came into town last night and the rest of the clan showed up today. It's so nice to see them. 


Though it is weird to see TWO misters. I'm sort of mesmorized by them talking to each other....it's like they're the same person. And the dog child was freaked out when they walked in together. Now she's like, "What? There's two? This is awesome!" 


I promise pictures.
Seriously.


But the mister is so happy to have his family here. And I am too. I really like these people. 


Merry Christmas everyone!

 

Let snoring dogs lie...

Today was an extremely productive day.

Today we woke up early (for us lately) and took the children for a walk in the morning drizzle.

Then we came home and cleaned the garage. 

Then the Christmas decoration boxes went into the clean garage. 


Then we opened one Christmas present, it wasn't what we thought but it's still awesome.


Then I met C at the gym for some cardio-chat time.


All while this was going on:

All day.

Alllllll day. 

Bastards.


Goodnight Peeps!

Five favorite things for a gloomy Sunday...

Hey peeps! This will probably be the first post of the day I still need to do a Christmasmadness post. I wanted to share some things that I am currently obsessed with because you know I love to share, and I love lists. It's what they call a win-win situation. 

My five favorite things this gloomy Sunday morning...

1. At the misters Christmas party last week I won this awesome blanket. It's the warmest, most wonderful thing in the entire world. Seriously. I know they got it at Kohl's but it wasn't on the website, it does look a lot like this one from CSN Stores.

Seriously dude, it's effin' cold here!

2. I made these cookies last night. They're delicious! Completely tames the chocolate craving and are nice and light. Plus they're somewhat healthy because they have whole wheat, but I did use butter and eggs instead of the super healthy options they use. (never home)maker is a great blog it's beginning to be one of my favorites. Thanks C for recommending it to me.  

3. I really, really want to make one of these wreaths. I've seen them on a few craftie blogs but this one is my favorite from The Little Apartment:

4. Vintage sugar and cream sets. I know this is weird. Don't judge. 
I've been looking for a sugar and cream set for the house because creamer got cut out of the budget and that's what we're using in the massive amounts of coffee that are being consumed in this house. I'll probably have to do an entire post for this, but this one is my favorite so far: From Etsy

Love it!

5. Polka dots. I don't know where this came from, well actually I do. A few weeks ago on HauteLook there was this dress that I probably should have splurged and bought, but I didn't so now I'm obsessed with finding a cute polka dot dress. I kind of love this one from Modcloth.

Seriously, how cute is that?

Enjoy you're Sunday peeps!

   

Christmasmadness!

I apologize for the lapse in posts peeps. At some point during my non-stop study hibernation the mister told me that his family was coming for Christmas. Since I was immersed in Mitosis and Cellular Respiration this information meant nothing to me. 

Well it means something now. 

For the last four days I've been in the middle of Christmasmadness. You have to say it really quickly. Christmasmadness! 

The house is almost done. I have one more project that I'm doing and then I'm finished. And I'll post pictures, I PROMISE!

Then I get to start preparing for Christmas dinner with the parents. Oh and the misters twin brother, he's coming too and he's staying here. And we just temporarily adopted a dog. Our friend J is going to Florida to meet her new boyfriend's parents. Ooooooo! And we're taking care of Petey for her.

We love Petey, him and Mutley the Wonder Dog were puppies together.  Besides now it's like a parade whenever I do something both dogs follow me around the house so I feel like the crown makes more sense now. 

Goodnight friends! 




   

Yikes it's already that time of year!

Ummm....when the hell did Christmas get here? 

And more importantly, why didn't anyone tell me?
 
Alright, so it's December 12, that means I have 13 days until Christmas. 12 days until the mister's family comes in on Christmas Eve. Oh god, the in-loves are coming for Christmas?!?!? IN 12 DAYS! I better get a tree. And buy some presents. 

Speaking of presents...

I have a list! 
Of course I have a list

Ready, here is my Christmas list for 2010:

Little Green Dresses by Tina Sparkles.
She takes dresses from thrift stores and makes them into cute little things. I want to know how to do that. Plus her name is Sparkles, so it has to be good.

This e-course from an amazing girl named Elsie who has a great blog named A Beautiful Mess.
Blog Love e-course

The Audrey Hepburn Collection at Costco. I showed the mister, with heavy hints like, "this would be an amazing Christmas present for someone you love, and live with..."

"The Parent Trap" the ORIGINAL with Haley Mills.

A KitchenAid Mixer, oh puuuhhhhlleeeeaaasssseee!!!!

I don't even care what color, but if I had to chose I would want red, no green apple or cobalt...I don't know. OOOO the metallic red one with the glass mixing bowl. That's the one I want. 

And that's it. It seems pretty short, I guess I don't want a lot for Christmas this year. I hate telling people what to give me. It makes me feel cheap or something...

Well I'm off for the night. Christmas madness starts tomorrow...

 

Happy DECEMBER!

Already? Seriously?

Sorry I have been so absent. I have pictures from Thanksgiving and I will post them tomorrow (you know one week anniversary and all). I'm in the middle of my last week of school and have rarely been seen without a book in my hand, pencil between the teeth, pen in the mess of hair plopped on my head and many many wrinkles on my face. But not tonight! I took my last quiz, turned in my last big assignments and gave my brain the rest of the night off. So I'm going to C's for Survivor and girl time in a bit. 

But I had to share these...

Aren't they so cool! They're my new rain boots! I love them! I love them even more when I remember that they're $90 boots I got for $25 on HauteLook. Oh, and they're fleece lined! They're fabulous....except....

MY ENORMOUSLY MUSCULAR CALVES ARE 1/2 INCH BIGGER THAN THE BANDED OPENING!!!! (Yeah, I measured)

Holy Soft Cheeses Batman. 
ARE you freakin' kidding me?!?! 

Let me explain, I've lived in the land of neverending rain for four years now. Winter here is like the sky is constantly exploding with rain. It's wet. All. The. Time. I have searched for four years for rain boots and when I finally find ones that I want they're 1/2 inch to small?!?! This is my life.


Tomorrow I'm calling a few shoe people in town to see if there's anything that can be done. I'm also looking up calf slimming exercises. That's the plan. If it doesn't work I'm going to cry. 

Have a good night ya'll!
 

My so called life...

Weeeeeelllll.......tomorrow is Thanksgiving! And I'm nearly ready for the event that is supposed to be dinner at my house. 
The green bean casserole is in the fridge, it just needs to be covered in French Fried Onions and baked.
All the ingredients for the stuffing are chopped and the cornbread is drying (and I'm debating on whether to make another batch...)
The turkey is unthawing in the fridge.
The cranberries are ready to be turned into a pie.
The house is super clean.
The air mattress is up in the office ready for me and the mister.
My mom and her boyfriend will be here in a little over an hour.


So why am I currently stressed?


Weeeeelllll....

I started making my pumpkin pies and realized that I only had one can of evaporated milk, this was after half of the filling was in one of the crusts. 
I'm currently waiting for the mister to call me so that I can tell him to stop and get evaporated milk.
I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen.
Pretty sure I'll be making a trip to the grocery store because along with evaporated milk we need chicken broth, flowers for the table, and I'm sure there's something else...
The load of sheets and towels that I put in the dryer over two hours ago are still not dry.
I ripped my favorite jeans putting them on this morning.
The dogchild still needs a bath.
The chicken is not unthawed for dinner tonight.
I can't remember if I've eaten anything other than Nutella and Graham Crackers today.
I still don't have my makeup on.
My mother will be here in a little over an hour....

I need a drink.


Happy Holidays!

Dog-Child take notes...

I just saw this video on my gal Stacy's blog.


Before I comment, just watch:


Dog-child you're officially being put on notice.

Why can't you be more like the dog on YouTube?

You don't do our laundry, you eat it.
You don't throw out the trash, you eat it.
You don't open the doors for me when my hands are full, you stand in front of me and force me to trip over you. Then you eat the groceries.


Seriously, it's time to step it up. 
You're lucky you're so damn cute.

 

Really? Really?!?

I just realized something...
Do you know what next week is?

Next week friends...is THANKSGIVING!!!!
Really? Already? Seriously?

Good God. There's so much to do. 

The mister and I are hosting dinner this year. Oh and my Mom is coming with her mister. They're bringing the turkey, that's how they got in. 
Still, no pressure.

At last count we'll have 8 or 9 people here. I hope we have that many chairs...
Again, no pressure.


Really, so much to do...
Cleaning, decorating, cleaning, shopping, cleaning, preparing...
So much cleaning. I mean my MOM is coming. The house has to be CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN.

Time to make a list. Yay a list!

But no list today, I have about 12 hours of Biology work to do today.
Ugghhhh......  

A new day...

Alright peeps, I've regrouped. I've stopped crying, stopped whining and stopped feeling sorry for myself. 

Today is a new day. 


And there are two things I'm not:
1. A failure
2. A quitter


Besides:

"With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are     attainable."

                                                      -Thomas Foxwell Buxton

I can do this. I am smart and capable and there is absolutely no reason why I shouldn't be able to get a B in this damn Biology class. Alright sure, I'm going to have to get an A on every assignment from now until the end of the term. And if I want to get hopeful there's a small chance that after all the grades are tallied satan my teacher may grade on a curve. That could help, but I'm not counting on it. 

What I am counting on is my meeting with her tomorrow. I emailed her today and asked if she would go over my test with me tomorrow. Her response: "I'll give it back to you at the end of class, the answers will be posted for you to go over then you can come talk about it with me." Sorry, that's not going to work. 

Here's how it's going to go, at least this is how it is in my head at the moment:

"Hi Gail, whythehelldidIdosodamnbadonthatfuckingtestyou'reabsolutlycrazy!Istudiedfordays,wenttotwostudysessionsandIstillfail!FUCKYOU!"

Okay, that's probably not how it will happen.

It'll be more like this:

Gail, I'm stuck with you for the next two terms and it's important for me to pass this class with a B. I'm applying to UO over winter term and I can't have  a C on my transcript. Since I've started your class I have been incredibly stressed, my other classes are suffering and I can no longer do this. Please tell me what I need to do in order to be successful in your class. 

At this point I hope I'm not crying.

The scores that I have received on tests in this class are the lowest scores I have ever received. I do all the reading, take good notes in class and even come to you with questions. What am I doing so wrong? 

Now I'm pretty sure I'll start crying.  

Obviously something between my answers and your grading isn't clicking and I need to know what that is. And can you please look at my paper since I now have to get an A on every assignment in order to maintain my GPA. 

B-iotch.

And if she refuses to help I guess I'll just have to go higher than her. I'm tired of feeling like I learn more outside of class with my group than in class from the teacher. And I'm really tired of putting in so much effort just to fail.

Wish me luck.

Where do I go from here?

Today has been one of the worst days I've had in a very long time. I've been feeling very discouraged about school this term, and I've reached a point in the term where I'm either going to sink or swim. With three weeks left, four if you count finals, I have the lowest grades I've ever had at this point in a term. 

Last week I studied my ass off for my Biology midterm and today (well about an hour ago) I got my grade. It wasn't good people. It wasn't good at ALL! In fact it made me feel sick to my stomach and start hysterically crying, I'm still worked up about it. Just writing this is making me choked up. I didn't completely fail, but it was the closest I've ever come and it was the lowest test score I've ever gotten.

I hate feeling like I could have done better, but I have no idea what I could have done. I just feel helpless and lost. I'm not used to failing. 

This morning I checked my horoscope, I guess it seems pretty fitting right now:

An unexpected event could spark your day and send you off on a different direction than you planned. How you react to what happens, however, is your choice and will set some actions into motion. You may have trouble finding balance now, even though a bit of moderation can prevent your house of cards from tumbling down.

I just didn't think that my unexpected event would be THIS. I was hoping for something awesome like my trust fund coming in. 

Only in my dreams... 

Fresh Food Friday!

Hey everyone! Thanks for stopping by for another Fresh Food Friday! Sorry that I didn't get one done last week, I was so sick! But I'm better now, and ready for action! 
If you stopped by because you heard about this from Lynn in the Good Food Easy newsletter, welcome! I do this every Friday, I try to get it out before 5:00, but as you can see sometimes that just doesn't happen. You are welcome to subscribe to my blog and you'll be notified when I post something new. 

This week I was really excited to get my bag-o-goodies! We got bananas! I know, I couldn't believe it either! They're GROW bananas and when they're purchased a portion of the money goes to help schools and community resources in villages. As if bananas could taste any better, these ones are infused with good karma. 

Along with the bananas we also got:

Mei Qing Choi (like Bok Choi), Eggs, Red Onions, Yukon Gold Potatoes, Gala Apples, Bananas, and a beautiful Pomegranate. It's almost as big as dog-child's itty bitty head!


This week there's not a lot of recipes to share. We go through bananas like whoa around here and they're already almost gone. The pomegranate the mister and I will share (can you believe I've NEVER eaten a pom?!?!). The eggs and potatoes will probably be used for breakfast tomorrow. 

For the Mei Qing Choi I just looked up recipes for Bok Choy and found this salad recipe I think I'll make with Chicken, it seems really easy. 
Baby Bok Choy with Yellow Bell Peppers


I have a pretty large supply of apples at the moment and I'm thinking of making some apple muffins with them this weekend.

The red onions will probably be used in various recipes throughout the week. We always use onions. 

Thank you for stopping by, come back next week! And by then I'm hoping that those pesky tabs will be working! 

Happy Friday!

Slowly losing my mind...

You may notice a new feature on this lil' ole blog. Notice the tabs? The double tabs? Cause sometimes one just isn't enough.

This weekend I mentioned my Fresh Food Friday section to my CSA farmer and she sent it out in the weekly newsletter. That's when the madness started. I wanted an easier way for people to find these posts, and other posts for recipes and crafts. I am currently blaming my type A obsessive need to be organized, thanks Grandma!

Last night to no avail I tried. Today I spent most of the day trying, now I have two types of tabs that lead nowhere. And I found a new layout but it required some customizing that I didn't quite get so now I'm waiting for that person to add me to their private blog so I can get all the proper directions! UGH!

Who knew blogging would be so hard?

So please bear with me while my site is under construction, I swear it will look amazing when it's done! At least I hope...

It's beginning..

It's official, I've done it. I broke my number one rule of the holidays. NO CHRISTMAS BEFORE THANKSGIVING!

I'm pretty strict about this rule, apparently until today. And I guess I didn't really break the rule, I just bent it a little. What did I do you ask? Well let me tell ya!

If you're a recisionista like me you may have heard about this amazing website HauteLook. If you haven't you really should check it out, they offer designer labels at non-designer prices. Everything is 50-75% off! Seriously. And they have more than just clothes, you can get accessories, home goods, makeup, everything! They have new events every day so it's always a good time. 

Today one of the items they were offering was a $50 gift card to Paper Culture for only $20. So after looking through the awesome array of Christmas cards I did it. I couldn't help it! I've been thinking about this years Christmas cards and I knew I wanted to get one with a picture on it instead of sending a separate pic like last year, and these are awesome! Plus they're eco-friendly, printed on all recycled paper and PC plants a tree for every order. 

Now the hard part begins. I have to get the mister to comply with a family photo, the dog child has to be in this one. Plus I have to pick a card! There are so many I just don't know which one to pick. 

Here are my favorites:

To many choices! What do you guys think? Maybe I should get the picture done first. 
These are the times I know my mister loves me. I require a family picture for our Christmas cards and we're not even married yet. He's so good. 


Have a great day peeps! I'll be studying for my hellish Biology midterm that is tomorrow. Just thinking about it makes my head hurt.

Giants win the series! Giants win the series!

The Giants won! The Giants won the World Series! 

I can't believe it! After watching so many (over 140 out of 162) games this season they actually won the Championship! If someone would have told me that this would be happening back in June, or July or even in September I would have told them they were crazy! 

Let's talk about the crazy emotions that have run through me this evening...

Innings 1-4: Typical Giants baseball, but these guys want it. And Timmy was on FIRE. He understood that this was THE game. 

5th Inning: After eating a ton of leftover Halloween candy in the first four innings I crashed. I napped. It happens.

6th and 7th Innings: Did the dishes. And almost stabbed myself with a butcher knife when Renteria hit that three run homer. 

8th Inning: Commentated from the couch while the mister made dinner. Also ran interference with the mass amounts of texts he was getting.

9th Inning: Tried to eat dinner but was to nervous. Watched my boyfriend Brian Wilson load the count with 2 outs and strike out Cruz to win the game!

Then the jumping up and down started! The mister and I had to choke back tears watching our team celebrate on the field. After so much torture, so much disappointment during the season we WON. We FUCKIN' WON! sorry about the language. 

For the fans who never stopped believin' 

GO GIANTS!
Man I can't wait until next season.  

Sickies...

My house is still full of sick people.

Today I stayed home, and the mister came home around 10.

We then laid on the couch all day and watched Eureka.

This is really getting old. 

I'll be back when I feel better. 

Hopefully that will be before the new year.  

Things I learned today...

What did I do today?

I made a cake, and cupcakes. With just a hand mixer cause I'm not cool enough for a fancy stand mixer.

Did a ton of dishes. I do them ALL by hand, I'm pretty sure my dishwasher is the first one ever made.

Took a nap.

Made Brinner. Breakfast for dinner, and this isn't entirely true, I started then almost cut off my finger and the mister finished. Don't worry, I'm okay.

And I learned two important things:

Number One:

 
Created by Oatmeal

That's pretty good right? Only 41% chance that my family wants me for Brinner...could be worse.

Except dogchild didn't get any of the bacon grease tonight...there was evil in those eyes, pure evil.

AND....

Number Two:


Created by Oatmeal

That's right peeps, when the zombie apocalypse happens and I eventually get bitten, you'll have 1 hour and 17 minutes before I turn on you and eat your brains. 


Nommmm....brains.


I swear that's what mutley said to me while she was planning my demise. 

What can I say, the bitch likes bacon. 

Like momma like dogchild.

This is happening...

Today I cleaned half of my house. Then I ran out of steam and took a nap.

I've had that foggy headed-no energy-blah feeling now for a few days and today was definitely the worst so far. 

I hate that feeling. 

Sickness is not an option. 

Even though it's October and I always get sick in October, it's proven. Last year it was the swine flu, the year before that it was a killer cold. Every year October=sickies.

No bueno.

And I'm contemplating not going to class tomorrow. I think I'll go unless I wake up and feel like absolute death. My reasoning: it's our friend Felica's birthday party tomorrow and I promised her a cake. A cake that I don't have all the ingredients for. Since the mister and I share a car I'll need it to get the missing ingredients so if I have to wake up and take him to work I may as well go to class. We'll see. I may just take him, go to the store, come home and go back to bed. 

It comes in waves that icky feeling. One minute I'm fine, the next the lady at the convenience store is telling me I look really tired. Yeah that happened, I didn't really know what to say. Inside it went something like "mind your own business and give me my f-in' 7-up lady!"

And this cake is also not an option. Why? Because it's this cake. Tomorrow is a trial run for C's boyfriend's birthday. And it looks delicious, and I've wanted to make it since I got the book.

So now I'm off to bed. 

But first I want to say thank you for the comments! It really makes my day to think someone is reading this stuff! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Goodnight! 

Jeff Probst is kind of a jerkwad...

I'm "watching" Survivor. That means it's on, I occasionally pay attention but really I've been running around the interwebs. 

But Jeff Probst, you're a jerkwad!

An extremely good looking jerkwad, but really are there other kinds?

You know who isn't a jerkwad?

The e-trade baby. 

Have you seen the new commercial? I LOVE IT!!! I laugh every time. 

Pretty sure the dogchild won't let me ride her. 

I guess I'll need to find a baby, sigh.  

It's Tuesday. 

I don't really like Tuesday's.
It's sandwiched in between cranky Monday and almost there Wednesday.
And there is just so much to do. 
All the things around the house that I didn't do over the weekend. Thanks margaritas... 
The homework that is due Wednesday.
Grocery shopping since we ate all the food over the weekend.


Ugh.


Here's what I should do today:


*Put gas in the car. not really an option, hopefully I have enough to get to the gas station.
*Clean out the car. It's become pretty embarrassing.  
*Shop for food. THE WORST! This usually means I have to take an inventory of what I have, make a list, blah, blah, blah...
*Go to Target. The only thing I'm looking forward to.
*Finish my Biology portfolio. Due tomorrow, almost done, like 85%. 
*Study for Biology quiz tomorrow. Luckily this is the one I accidentally studied for two weeks ago.    
*Start reading Jane Eyre for my History of Women Writers class. 
*Look over the rough draft I just got back from my writing teacher. Final draft due Monday.
*Vacuum. I don't remember the last time I did this...J would be so disappointed!
*Dust. Someone wrote in my TV stand that this needed to be done.
*Put away laundry. At least it's done?
*Clean the bedroom. Pretty sure there's a cedar chest under that massive pile of clothes.
*Find my kitchen table. I know it's there somewhere.
*Pay the bills. Da bills! 

Oh yeah and The Giants play game 3 of the NLCS at 1:00, the mister said this morning that if I didn't watch it I would be fired and have to find a job. Like I would miss it!

And it's yogilates tonight. I'm beginning to think that it's about the only thing that keeps me sane through the week. 

Alright Tuesday. 
Let's do this.
You're going down!