Ten on Tuesday

I haven't done one of these in a million and one years!

1. I have so much nervous energy inside of me right now, I have hung up all my clothes, gave myself a manicure (even though I have no nails-I really want to stop biting them), groomed my eyebrows, watched  The Bachelor from last night, and did a load of laundry!

2. I got some new knives for Christmas, and they make me SO HAPPY!  I chop and chop and chop, and I love every minute of it!  My kids laugh at me because I am always smiling when I am chopping.  Sometimes I pretend I am on a cooking show, but I don't last very long because I start laughing.  I don't know how all the Food Network Stars do it, I have absolutely nothing to say about the food I am cooking, and when I try to tell a story about food, it sounds ridiculous!

3. JT's new song isn't my favorite, but it will grow on me because everything he does is magic!

4. I REALLY like The Bachelor, Sean.  I think he is BEAUTIFUL.  I think he is so sweet, and I hope he lives up to all the expectations I have in my head for him this season!

5. One of my new favorite shows this year is Catfish on MTV.  They follow someone finally meeting face to face with someone they met online and document the whole thing.  Since I got married way before the whole Internet dating phenomenon, it is fascinating for me to watch this show.  I wonder if I would be so naive!?

6. I also missed out on the whole craze of announcing pregnancies, engagements, birth, weddings, etc on facebook.  I mean my kids are cute, but they are 6 and 8.  I "like" a lot more pictures of babies than I do of elementary school aged children.

7. My goal is to lose ten pounds before I color my hair.  I am working really hard at completing this goal because OMG, my roots are grown out almost 2 inches.

8. Every time I do a load of laundry, I have to run each load through the dryer twice.  It is really a pain in my butt, but I don't think a new dryer is in my future anytime soon!

9. iPhone games and applications are SOOOOOOOOO ADDICTING!

10.  Karen Parise, the lady I babysat for growing up, made this amazing Shrimp Oregano.  However, she weighs all of 50 pounds soaking wet, so it is alright for her to chow down on a stick of butter for dinner.  I found a "lighter" version and made it for dinner last night!  It was DELICIOUS!

Christmas 2012

We had so much fun this year. Christmas Eve we always go to my Grandma's House. We play a gift exchange game with a $30 gift, and honestly IT WAS SO BORING this year! We are going to have to step up our game next year! No one switched, no one fought over anything, etc. I am going to buy a really crappy gift so that no one wants it and trades it away!

My grandma FINALLY caved and let Pat and I do the dishes. Apparently my clothes aren't nice enough to need an apron, but my grandma was concerned that doing the dishes would mess up Pat's clothes so she found him this gem, SO FUNNY!

Christmas morning was TOUGH this year. Seriously, my kids need nothing, we need nothing, so I tried to find one thing they would each like and then wrapped necessities! Jackson got an electric piano, and Tyler got a CD player for her room.

This is the picture of Jackson seeing the electric piano across the room!  Shock and Awe my friends! 

Just a little excited!

I hit the jackpot with the book for my mom that I talked about in my previous post, it brought on serious tears! I even have the pictures to prove it!

All in all we had Christmas morning wrapped up before 6am, and we were all back in bed for a nap by 11! It was a great day!

P.S. I knew 2013 was going to be a GREAT year-Justin Timberlake is going to make new music! YAY!

Things I am LOVING right now!

I love seeing posts when people tell me something they are really in to! If I read your blog, I probably like you, and then it means I might like it too! So I thought I would post a few of the things I am really in to right now!

Raincoast Crisps (I can find them at AJ's or Whole Foods)!These crackers/toasts are AMAZING with herb goat cheese. I LOVE CHEESE! Have I mentioned that!???

I got this Oil of Olay Facial Cleanser for Christmas, and it seriously pulled all the imperfections to the surface within a day, and hopefully they are gone for good. It is also very therapeutic when using it to massage my face in the shower! LOVE IT!

One of the best "kid" movies I have seen in a LONG TIME! I laughed, I cried. It was magical!

Pat and I walked out of the movie theater and asked one another if someone had been secretly documenting our lives over the past year and no one told us! It was so funny!

I got my mom this book for Christmas by Kitty Kelley, and she started crying when she opened it, and I saw her pass it on to my grandma the other day, so if you have any parents around the same age as my mom (almost 60!), it seems to be a very popular book!

My son is OBSESSED with football. Mainly because he thought until the other day that he could get drafted out of high school and skip college. I seriously drove past my stop because I was arguing with him about how he was GOING TO COLLEGE! I fully think people should go play football if they are drafted, but they need to go back and finish. I told him he was going to have to sign a contract stating that he would have to go to college and finish, and he was FREAKING OUT! Why is it always the smart ones that want to do the bare minimum? Anyway, we have been playing this game over Christmas Break, and I kind of rock! I love video games!

I'M BACK.... My last post was a 30 for 30 update, so I included that today to HOPEFULLY inspire some more posts!!! I miss blogging. 2012 was a CRAPPY year, but I feel so revived and refreshed knowing that I get a brand new start with 2013! Happy New Year and may you all feel as REFRESHED as I do! In honor of my 30th Birthday, here are 23 things I hope to accomplish before I am 40 years old.

1. Run a mile without stopping. The only reason I am following through with the Couch to 5K program is so that I can cross this off my list.

2. Travel to Hawaii-preferably on my 14 night cruise, but really, anyway I can get there, I will go!

3. Survive having teenagers-eeeek!

4. Find better health coverage.

5. Take the kids to Disney World and on a Disney Cruise.

6. Get some bedroom furniture.

7. Buy a house in my desired neighborhood. Maybe if I make a list for when I turn forty I will be more specific and state "Buy dream house in desired neighborhood!" :-) Kind of excited that I knocked out the most expensive thing on my list!

8. Go skiing.

9. STOP biting my nails.

10. Eat at Elements while Beau MacMillan is the head chef there! I just adore him.

11. Meet The Pioneer Woman or Paula Dean! I will take either lover of butter.

12. Visit Georgia, I think secretly, I was meant to live there. I have this vision of how AMAZING it will be. Might also help me accomplish #11.

13. Own a BIG BIG BIG screen television!

14. I am cheating here because I feel it will happen soon, but go on an adults only vacation with Karissa and Josh-LOVE THEM! Um, what happened here Karissa Miller????

15. Travel outside Arizona with Andrea, Tamara and Shannon-I seriously have never met people I enjoy traveling with so much!

16. Learn to manage my addictive personality.

17. Enroll Tyler in dance and watch her do her thing-SERIOUSLY the girl is INCREDIBLE-self taught!

18. Get organized!

19. Get a suburban.

20. Watch Pat in the courtroom.

21. Kick my dependency on Tylenol PM

22. Somehow get on the Board at Phoenix Children's Hospital-seriously the only place I feel passionately enough about to work for!

23. Gain better control of my jealousy. I would say I have improved since 20, but I have a ways to go. I am way too jealous in many aspects of my life :-(
YES, I have seriously accomplished this. Not perfectly, but I know how truly blessed we are. The grass isn't always greener on the other side!

Goals From When I Turned 30 UPDATE!

In honor of my 30th Birthday, here are 23 things I hope to accomplish before I am 40 years old.

1. Run a mile without stopping. The only reason I am following through with the Couch to 5K program is so that I can cross this off my list.

2. Travel to Hawaii-preferably on my 14 night cruise, but really, anyway I can get there, I will go!

3. Survive having teenagers-eeeek!

4. Find better health coverage.

5. Take the kids to Disney World and on a Disney Cruise.

6. Get some bedroom furniture.

7. Buy a house in my desired neighborhood. Maybe if I make a list for when I turn forty I will be more specific and state "Buy dream house in desired neighborhood!" :-) Kind of excited that I knocked out the most expensive thing on my list!

8. Go skiing.

9. STOP biting my nails.

10. Eat at Elements while Beau MacMillan is the head chef there! I just adore him.

11. Meet The Pioneer Woman or Paula Dean! I will take either lover of butter.

12. Visit Georgia, I think secretly, I was meant to live there. I have this vision of how AMAZING it will be. Might also help me accomplish #11.

13. Own a BIG BIG BIG screen television!

14. I am cheating here because I feel it will happen soon, but go on an adults only vacation with Karissa and Josh-LOVE THEM! Um, what happened here Karissa Miller????

15. Travel outside Arizona with Andrea, Tamara and Shannon-I seriously have never met people I enjoy traveling with so much!

16. Learn to manage my addictive personality.

17. Enroll Tyler in dance and watch her do her thing-SERIOUSLY the girl is INCREDIBLE-self taught!

18. Get organized!

19. Get a suburban.

20. Watch Pat in the courtroom.

21. Kick my dependency on Tylenol PM

22. Somehow get on the Board at Phoenix Children's Hospital-seriously the only place I feel passionately enough about to work for!

23. Gain better control of my jealousy. I would say I have improved since 20, but I have a ways to go. I am way too jealous in many aspects of my life :-(
YES, I have seriously accomplished this. Not perfectly, but I know how truly blessed we are. The grass isn't always greener on the other side!

Thanksgiving

I am sure you all are expecting this super downer post about how I hate The Holidays, and honestly, I have spent the entire week in a funk about how much I absolutely cannot stand The Holidays, but I have decided to change my attitude starting now! No more complaining about how there is too much to do and about how I can't stand being around XYZ. Here's the thing, each year, I will be thankful that I am still here to be around the people I love, and the people I can't really stand. It makes for some funny stories, and when I look back on The Holidays, I never remember hating every single moment of them, so why should I spend the next six weeks dreading every second. The thing is, we are REALLY lucky. How many people can still spend The Holidays with their grandparents?
I dread the day when I can't spend The Holidays with my grandparents. Sure, my Grandpa might be REALLY into finances right now, and he might ask what everyone makes and how much something cost, but that's where he is at in his life. They are retired and trying to make money stretch is tough, so I get it, and I am thankful that Jackson and I inherited all of our math smarts from him. My grandma, oh my gosh, will I be sad when she is gone because it means I am going to have to cook, my mom offered to cook, but no one would want to eat that meal (LOVE YOU MOM!)! She manages to have all of the courses out at the same time, she looks forward to it, loves it, and can't wait for Thanksgiving every year. She makes the best of every situation, has the biggest heart, and would do anything for anyone.
We don't get to see everyone on the Holidays, and I am certain that is soooooooo hard for some of the family because I would like DIE, D.I.E! if I couldn't see my kids on a Holiday, and I now appreciate so much more what certain family members have sacrificed so that we don't have to run around like crazy people on Thanksgiving going from house to house to house and eating from house to house to house. It is just too much, and I hope that when I am older and my kids have their own families I get over my fear of DYING and celebrate The Holidays in a way that is meaningful to us. Thanksgiving is just a day, but any day can really be Thanksgiving.
So, this Thanksgiving, as you sit around the table with some you love, and some you really can't stand and probably wouldn't talk to if they weren't related to you. Think about how lucky you are to be sitting at that table. Think about how blessed you really are, and think each and every day how you are going to make it a great day!

Ten on Tuesday!

1. Tyler's very last Fun Run was last weekend. She had a blast. She was super excited that Rylee was able to participate in a different division. They have so much fun together, and I am so happy they are growing up to be such great friends.

2. I attempted to take some candid shots of Jackson this morning before he went to school: (1) because I don't want to take the time or money to go see a professional photographer (2) because I have social anxiety and these types of experiences make me sweat (3) because I am lazy and try not to leave the house if at all possible. When you see the photos I took of him below, you will see (1) the time and money may be worth it (2) why I end up sweating because I have to perform circus tricks to get him not to smile like The Joker (3) I would rather stay home and drink wine.







3. What do you guys do if you have a neighbor that has crossed the line? I know I have to live next to them for at least the next ten years, so I can't totally go off on them, but I have to say something (I struggle with this middle ground-I either love everyone or hate them, need to work on my middle ground tolerance). You know how I hate when people ring my doorbell or knock on my door. The fear of that occuring has now multiplied by ten. All I want for Christmas is a security door and my doorbell disconnected.

4. I got Jackson signed up for a soccer team. He is soooooooooo excited. I am hoping that Tyler will play t-ball again this Spring, which will make for an incredibly busy sports season.

5. I am seriously struggling to get past number 4, I feel now that things have settled down for a hot moment, I don't do anything but laundry and dishes while the kids are at school, and nothing really exciting happens each and every day.

6. Jackson's class is going on a Field Trip. There isn't a lot of space, so you had to turn your name in if you wanted to go. I didn't want to go, but I figured I would turn my paper in, not get selected, but Jackson would still believe I wanted to go. UM...what would you know-I got selected. Jackson is super excited, but I struggle being around children I don't have an authority over. When I taught, it was MY CLASS, MY RULES, MY WHATEVER. When I am with my kids, it is the same thing. I can discipline them as I see fit, and for the most part they listen. The kids that go on these Field Trips have a tendency to be ape shit bonkers, and if they don't listen, what am I going to say, "Stop It Right Now, or I am going to tell the teacher!?" I sound like a first grader myself!

7. Made Baked Ziti for dinner tonight, and it is so nice to get it done while the kids are at school. Then, I can answer the first question they both ask when I pick them up, "What's for Dinner?"

8. This is usually followed by cheers or groans.

9. This has taken me over an hour to write because I keep thinking of something, googling it, and finding myself on a different website!

10. Anyone else OBSESSED with Revenge!? Best new show on television for sure!