...well, now this is happening...

When I made a certain gift to give to my dad for christmas, I couldn't wait to blog about it. Then guess what? I forgot! So let me give you a little background...

The first xmas after I had Emily I put a bunch of pictures of her in one of those multiple opening frames and gave it to my dad for xmas. After I had Blake he wanted one for him too but I just kinda forgot. When my sister and I went xmas shopping the day after T.Giving I found an awesome black wood frame with multiple openings at a killer price at Kohl's so I bought it for dad with the intention of putting Blake pictures in it. Then, the onery little elf that resides in my head found out my plan. He thought it would be funny to put pictures of Adam in the frame. Not just in the frame, but in all 16 openings of the frame. I decided I would take cheesy pictures of Adam, like the kind you would find already in a frame when you buy it. We did it on Christmas Eve and I decided a Christmas theme to them would be fun. The best part of this is that until the last couple years, Adam and my dad have had a sort of Archie Bunker/Meathead type relationship so the thought of dad having 16 pictures of Adam hanging in his house was hilarious to think about. Since I had to work 2nd shift the night of Christmas eve, I took the pictures, which I printed in black and white, with me to work and put them in while I worked. I put the "real" pictures of the kids behind them so when all the fun ended, I could do the big reveal easily.

Let's just say I'm glad our office has one-way glass so no one could see me doing it because I was cracking up the whole time. My sister, BIL and Adam were the only ones who knew I was doing it so I took it with me to our family dinner on Christmas day so everyone could see it and my dad's reaction. We weren't sure how he was going to react. I for sure thought he wasn't going to realize it was all Adam in there at first but then would react like, "Aw, Jesus Christ! Why the hell would you think I'd want a bunch of pictures of THIS guy!" How he actually reacted was even better. He cracked up! Like laughed like I haven't seen him do in a really long time. Here's his reaction:




Here's the finished product as well as what it looked like with the kids pictures in it. From the look on dad's face, you'd think he actually liked the Adam version better:





And here are a few of my favorite pictures I took. Like I said, they have a Christmas theme. You may notice Adam's eyes are a little bloodshot. He'd been up for like 2 days and I woke him up from a much deserved nap to take the pictures. What a trooper!







On a slightly unrelated note, here is a picture of my sister holding a gift she got from our cousin, who is a dental hygentist at a place that does mostly dentures. That's right, it's a denture with the teeth painted red and green. She drilled a hole in it and strung it with floss for hanging on the Christmas tree. My sister got one and so did Adam and I. I got the upper, Adam got the lower denture. I thought it was so awesome, mine is hanging from my rearview mirror. They are actual dentures returned from actual people that have been sterilized. I hope someone sees mine in my car and thinks it was left to me in a will by grandpa.

"Do you have a goal? Ya gotta have a goal."

It's not too late to put in my order of New Year's resolutions, right? I figure as long as they're still made within the month of January, then there's no late fees. At least that's what the little procrastination devil inside my head is telling me, and frankly I'm akin to believe him. So, here they are, my New Year's resolutions for 2009...break out the horn section...

1. Lose some weight. I think my ultimate goal is about 35 pounds this year. Will that put me in that size 2 couture dress for the 2010 Oscar's next year? No, not even close, but it will prove that I can do it. I also hope that once I get on a roll loosing weight, that the ball will just keep rolling.

2. Workout more. Adam and I were doing super working out while Blake was in preschool but I've missed the last two times so now I'm naughty. Spank me. No really. I've been bad. OK, all kidding aside, I'm working on a workout goal, but I'm not sure what I want it to be yet. I know I want to combine some sort of cardio with some strengthening. Ultimately I think I'd like to walk a mile and bike a half a mile and then lift some weights. If I can do that 2x's a week, building up to 3x's a week, I'll be a happy camper. First though, butt to the gym!

3. OK, every year January rolls around and I say, "OK, this is the year I'm going to put money in our Christmas Club every week and I'm going to save up one month's worth of bills by the time Adam gets laid off in the winter." Then every year Adam gets laid off, Christmas is 4 weeks away and our checking account balance says "3.13." This year though, I WILL do it. I have to make a point to start it now. The sooner I start, the less I have to save back every week. Geez, even $10 a week would be something and it wouldn't be a huge amount of money that would be missed every week. I've missed out on putting money away for the last 2 Fridays, but no more. Starting this week, at least $10 will be put away for next winter.

4. Get better organized. Get rid of clutter. When we first moved in to the apartment, I felt very organized. I felt like the apartment wasn't cluttered and it made me want to do the dishes, put the dirty clothes in the basket instead of on the floor and just generally be neater. I've noticed in the last several weeks as I've gotten busier working full-time instead of part-time, Adam's gotten busier plowing snow, and with the holidays in general, the house is in a general upheaval and I'm messier because of it. Dishes I bring to the living room sit there, I'll take off my clothes next to the bed and not even bother to toss them 3 feet into the clothes basket, mail piles up here and there with no real place to go. I hate it. I want to quit it. I'm going to be realistic about it though. Am I looking for a squeaky clean house? Heck no, I have kids. I think there is a line of messiness though, and we've definitely crossed it.

5. Back onto the money thing, I want to be able to stick to a budget. I make budgets all the time, in fact I love doing it but I can't stick to one to save my life. Just once, even for a week, I'd like to follow a budget. I've got a whole year to do it...just once.

So these are my hopes for 2009. Extra bonus points to the person that can tell me what movie the quote is from that I used in the title of this post.

Just Let Me Live!

I survived. I survived the funk of 2009. Last Wednesday one of our neighbor's kids was pretty sick with the flu. High fever, vomiting, the works. The next night Adam and Emily were sick. Adam didn't vomit but Emily did. She was better by early Friday afternoon and then in the middle of the night on Friday it was Blake's turn. I was working Friday and Saturday nights but Adam called me at about 3:45am Saturday morning and said it was Blake's turn. By the time I got home Saturday morning at 7:30 Blake was fine and running all over the house. Adam and I doused the house in Lysol and kept our fingers crossed. Late Sunday afternoon I had a bad feeling. My stomach started to hurt a little and I just knew it was going to be my turn. Sure enough, just before 1am it started. By 6am I thought I was going to pass out and die. I really did. I had gotten rid of every ounce of liquid in my body yet the Toilet Gods still demanded more. I was supposed to work 1st shift on Monday, from 8:30 to 5 but I had Adam call my supervisor around 6:15 to let her know I might be dead by then.

Adam was super awesome the whole night I was sick. He cleaned up messes too gruesome to mention and didn't complain even once. He brought me towels and anti-nausea meds. He cut open the little packets of Immodium that required a lot more strength than I could summon. He made me a cup of hot tea at 5am. Around 6:30, when the worst of it was over and all we wanted to do was sleep we gave each other nicknames. Mine was Squirt, his was Superman. They lasted until we passed out about 3.7 minutes later.

A few hours later I woke up and felt somewhat better. While I still had to run to the bathroom to hold down the toilet RIGHT NOW, my stomach wasn't as bad. I was very tired but there was a light at the end of the tunnel. I was going to live. I grabbed Emily's new Fisher Price portable DVD player, my unopened season 4 of The Office and settled in bed for the day. I was only able to watch about an episode and a half between naps. Finally I felt a lot better by that night and was pretty much a human again by yesterday. I even worked out yesterday morning, though I definitely didn't give it 100%. Maybe like 62%. And I only rode the stationary bike for about 45 minutes because the thought of being upright on a treadmill made me woozy.

So anyway, here I am. Alive. Back to work again tonight. wooo.