Calming down...

It's looking like things will be slowing down a bit at work. We've had a lot of thug kids lately...intimidators, fighters, future road rage arrestees. One left on Thanksgiving and another today. They're being replaced by non-aggressive kids which is something we haven't had for a long time. We still have a few thugs, but they're isolated right now and another one will be leaving within a couple of weeks. We haven't been able to even try and find jobs for these kids because we've been so bogged down with behavior issues and needing to supervise several locations 24/7 instead of the independence our unit is supposed to give them. It'll be a welcome break from the stress of the last six months or so.

Successful

Since 2003 we have been Black Friday shoppers, although we did miss one year due to being out of state. Our first year was spent outside of a Best Buy, the following years were Circuit City. With Circuit City having gone out of business this past year we looked the ads over and decided since Paul needed new jeans from Old Navy and we really wanted to get Lego Rock band it would be the best place to begin our holiday shopping at. The thing that was great about this year was we didn't have to sit outside till 5am!

We got to ON about 12:30am, there was less than a dozen people in front of us we were kinda surprised. Across the street at Best Buy the line wrapped around the building, parking lot and out on to the sidewalk along the street. Paul got settled in line and I headed to grab the gift card we forgot at home, some blankets and coffee. Then we sat and waited, talked, flipped through the ads and listened to the crazies next to us. At 2:30 the employees handed out wristbands for those who would receive the free video game. Paul and I both wanted to try on some jeans so this was not a run in grab what we came for and leave, because of this the line in the store to pay became longer than the line outside. The Mr. and I waited for over 1 1/2 hours to make our purchases.

Since it was nearing 5am by this time we made a plan and headed to Target, as we were parking they opened the doors. We went to the back of the line and waited our turn to be let inside. It was quite packed in there! Target apparently doesn't think that handing out tickets for big items before letting hundreds of people in the store is a valid idea.

Next up was Best Buy which was easy to get in since they already opened doors the hour before we arrived. After comparing styles, makers, and prices we picked out a laptop for my mom. Then it was time to stand in line again. While waiting our turn to check out we came to the conclusion that we needed SLEEP!

Back to my moms for us and to bed! The pair of us woke up for lunch, then it was time for Round 2 at the mall! The three of us walked the entire mall, hitting any store we needed something in. Around 830pm it was time to call it a day. Back to the house to relax and pack up all the treasures we found.

Paul and I made sure to follow one another home to make sure neither of us was to tired to drive.

It was another successful Black Friday!
NOW on to Cyber Monday.

Getting in the spirit...

Last year I could not get into Christmas music. Even when it actually was Christmas. This year is the opposite. I've been listening to it off and on for a week or so thanks to a local radio station that plays it 24/7. Now iTunes has been playing it all day as well. I've been looking for new songs to add to the mix. Bob Dylan's new Christmas cd? Unlistenable. Mormon Tabernacle Choir? Bad theology, good singing. Barenaked Ladies featuring Anne Murray? Surprisingly good. Any suggestions for really good ones?

In related news, our only mail today was a Turner's holiday catalog. It was addressed to a former resident of this apartment "or current resident" so we kept it. What does Turner's sell you may ask? Weapons! What better way to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior than with a discounted .38 Special or an M4 Tactical 12 gauge shotgun. The Maxim Tactical folding knife claims to be a perfect stocking stuffer. If we want to do our part to help battle breast cancer while controlling the deer population there is a whole collection of pink weapons available. Cyndi wants the pink taser, but it's a bit pricey. For that price you could get two pink .22 rifles ("This ones made especially for your little girl!"). Don't worry, I'll be careful. If you get a present from me this year I'll make sure it's unloaded before I sent it.

Something I was not thankful for on Thanksgiving....

On Thanksgiving I ended up having to work. I was supposed to have the day off, but a co-worker had twins on Monday so he's out for a little while. I figured if I worked his early shift I would be able to use the extra money to balance out my furlough day and still have time to make it to Thanksgiving dinner at my parents house. My boss said he'd even leave money to take the boys to a movie.

They couldn't agree on anything (as usual) so we took a vote. The dominant voice who showed up to vote rallied everyone to vote for New Moon because it looked cool with werewolves and vampires battling. By the time we got to the theatre and the boys saw the movie poster, some of them started having buyers remorse. We didn't want to have a big arguement at the theatre, so we quickly got them inside and said to at least be happy they weren't stuck back on campus.

I went into New Moon expecting badness. I didn't realize just how bad it was going to be. I tried to type out something here to express all that is wrong with it, but I kept feeling like I was leaving something out. For the most acurate review I've been able to find, read this: New Moon: Review

Out of the 40 or so people in the theater, 8 walked out at various times during the first hour never to return. I wished I could join them. Many teens in there could be heard talking about how ridicuous the whole thing was throughout the movie. Seven of the boys hated it with only one saying it was "ok".

There were a few things that got the entire audience laughing: 1. A future vision of Bella and Edward running through the forest in all white dress clothes to show their love. 2. A scene where Bella crashes her bike and Jacob runs over to see if she's ok. He has to take off his shirt for some reason to provide first aid. Not that he uses the shirt for anything. 3. When the movie cut to black at the end. That got the most laughs from everyone and a lot of "what the hell was that?" questioning.

Bottom line: Bad script, worse acting, a disjointed feeling throughout, and a horrible example to the teen girls the movie is being targeted at. It's sad they're going to try and get 3 more movies out of this series.

Turkey Day gives way to Black Friday

I had the pleasure of sleeping in today which was delightful! Mom and I had a light lunch at the house, lounged around a bit, looked through the newspaper and then got ready to head to the Robinson's.

Mom and I got over to Lynn and Steve's place just before dinner was to be served. There was turkey, 2 types of cranberry sauce and stuffing, green been casserole, rolls, mashed potatoes, veggies, pies.... all delicious. We enjoyed spending the evening with the whole family talking and watching football. Michelle and I even took a side trip to Micheal's which opened today from 5-9pm to begin our shopping early!

Paul had to work this morning and then headed over to his family's Thanksgiving meal. I am sure there was terrific food there as well and that a good time was had by all.

The boy is now on his way down to SD so that we can head out and do our Black Friday shopping. It is tradition to hangout in front of Best Buy or Circuit City for the past 4-5 years. Mom and I did a drive by Best Buy on our way home this evening, there are already droves of people and new this year about a dozen camping tents set up throughout the line.

Hope everyone enjoys a good nights sleep in their warm toasty beds while me and my Bubba are out on the cold concrete. Who am I kidding, I HEART Black Friday.

With A Thankful Heart

I am so thankful for my life.

husband.

family.

friends.

freedoms.

opportunities.

future.

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving and hope you all remember the many people and things in our lives we have to be grateful for not only on this day, but always.

Fascinating

We have not figured out what is so interesting in our ceiling, but there must be something. Recently G-mo has decided to start hoping up on the fridge and pawing his way into the light fixtures. He tries with all his might to get his nose up in there but it is just a little too short.

Yes or No

I have been trying to decide if we should do a Christmas Letter this year. Many people have expressed over the years that they actually enjoy getting our letters and photo every Christmas and look forward to seeing what we have been up to. It just seems like it would be a mostly "Debbie Downer" type of letter. Of course I can try an make it as positive as possible but the bottom line is a lot of hard stuff has happened this year. Part of me thinks good or bad it is what it is and people would still want to know what happened with us this year, the other part doesn't want to damper the holidays for others and thinks just send a photo this time around. I just don't know which way to go on this.

Missed by that much...

This past week Sports Authority had an event announcing their new partnership with Nintendo and the Wii Fit. They had the largest Wii Fit demonstration in the parking lot (trying to get into the World Records book). Jillian was on hand to give a speech, and run a short workout routine off the Wii Fit. Sadly I did not have the opportunity to get a photo with her. She was incredibly personable, sweet and took the time to shake hands and talk to a few fans who showed up.

Christmas @ Disney

I love Christmas at Disneyland.Our first stop was a photo in front of the tree. Then we met up with these two and Jenny along with her kids and parents. Everyone split up to hit a few rides before it was time for the fireworks show. We stationed ourselves close to one of the light displays so that Cole would be close to the "snow" that falls at the end.

We tried to go on Small World after fireworks but it was crazy over there and a massive line was forming. Cole decided he was ready for bed so Co and Cole took off. Paul and I wanted to hit a few more rides before heading home.



Of course we had to stop by Buzz. Paul now challenges all of our friends who have Disney passes or are planning a visit to beat his score!

Planning

Venting: I am frustrated that I feel like I cannot even plan my life for the next week. There are so many balls up in the air. I do not know which will drop first and until that first ball drops I cannot make further plans. Ugh! I just wish that I could give one solid answer to anyone, the problem is nothing is depending on my decisions it is events that are out of my control that are going to dictate what happens next week. I just hope that everyone is okay with whatever the outcome is.

Oh well, off to enjoy Friday at the "happiest place on earth" with my Bubba. Hope everyone out in blogland has a great weekend.

Respect

From the first episode of Survivor this year I have hated Russell. He dumped out all their water, and seems a bit off his rocker creating conspiracies that aren't really going on. I will never be a fan of Russell. However, he has gained my respect as a game player.

Sequel

Gizmo returns to the stage after a years absence for an exciting performance of "Places I don't belong 2"

He is our little Rock Star

Keyboard Box Tote Bag
Kitchen Cabinets
Under the Couch
File Cabinet
Costco Milk Box
If you would like to view his past performance... click here

Long Awaited For

The Biggest Loser 8:30 on NBC tonight!

This is the episode I have been waiting tight-lipped for. Before this season started I was invited to go to the taping for the makeover episode. It was an incredible experience getting to meet the trainers and was so much fun to be there and see the transformations the contestants had made.

Every time someone would complain about Tracey I had to bite my tongue to not blurt out, no worries she wont be in the top 6. I have never been so happy as the day she was voted off, Paul can attest to my constant arguing with the tele when she kept getting to stick around week after week.

Good riddance!

Really? Really!

I cannot wait for our upstairs neighbors to MOVE!!!

Hurry up and get out people.

They vacuum at 3 in the morning. They drop loud objects on the floor at all hours of the day and night.

Really? REALLY!

They cuss, scream, and fight with each other so loudly that we cannot hear our own conversations.They hit the walls and slam doors when they are mad at each other.

Really? REALLY!

They turn on the air conditioner, shut up every window in their place and smoke which comes down the heating vent into our apartment. Not to mention that we are convinced they are involved in some sort of illegal activity, we just can't seem to figure out what it is. The possibilities: meth lab, stolen goods, insurance scams involving car accidents...

Really? REALLY!

We heard rumor they were moving out at the end of Oct., well that didn't happen. I saw the guy stacking up some random items and taking a handful of trips to the car with un-boxed items so hopefully by the end of this month we will be rid of them.

The End of the Blogcation

Apparently my blogcation is over. Cyndi was unable to post today due to forgetting to take her computer with her to San Diego. She claims that I haven't posted since around January. It doesn't seem that long, but who knows. I told her I can barely manage Facebook status updates, so coming up with enough material for a blog post is stretching it.

Our Disneyland passes expire in 3 weeks so we're trying to go as much as we can. We'll renew them again at some point, but aren't going to spend money on that right now. We went on Saturday night, but didn't go on much. We got there just as the Christmas parade was about to start so we watched that. Then we went over to California Adventure. We just found out that they are going to be expanding, so we checked out all the displays showing the new Cars themed land and the new entrance plaza they're going to put in. It seems pretty cool....new stuff each of the next 3 years. After that we went on Soarin' and the 3-D Toy Story game/ride and then headed out right before the fireworks crowd.

One of the highlights of my night was the conversation between two high schoolers sitting on the tram next to us:

Guy -- "Isn't blue your favorite color?"
Girl -- "No way!"
Guy -- "Then what is?"
Girl -- "Glitter."

Magic. In case you're wondering, I think glitter is now my favorite color too. I can't believe I never even considered it.

Up to-the Date

I did not step it up quite as much as I would have liked this week. I did complete 13 miles however I was only at the track 3 of 5 days! Which means the days I went I was productive, I just need to get there more often during the week.

I have 122 miles to my goal. 47 days left in the year.

Just over 2.5 miles everyday to accomplish this feat.

At It Again

Tonight I am trying out a new (old) recipe for Black & White Red Velvet Cookies. Guess who wanted to help...
Here they are...

Final Result: They were alright but I will want to try another recipe before keeping this one in my cookbook.

Charles in Charge

Happy Happy Birthday from both of us to you

Happy Happy Birthday we wish the best for you

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear Charlie, Happy Birthday to you! Have a spectacular birthday, stateside!

Can't wait to see you and celebrate.

Military

Because I couldn't say it better than Beth does. Click Here.

Thank You to all of the military men and women. We are forever grateful for the sacrifice you have made to protect our freedoms. I am so proud of all of my family and friends (there are so many of you!) who have put their lives on the line so we may all live the American Dream.

Robert HutchinsDavid Goedhart

Our Side of Town

Here is what you'd find waiting for you, if you came to visit P&C Just in case you may have forgotten something at home, we have you covered. There are all the basics along with delicious smelling lotion, perfume/cologne, bubble bath beads and a puzzle book.

The Great Blackout of '09

Curly came over for a sleepover last night. As we were hanging out watching the tele and playing on the computer at 2am all of a sudden the entire place went black. Figuring it was just a glitch we sat and waited for a moment to see if the power would return. It didn't. We are not exactly prepared for this sort of situtation so I fumbled through the drawers to find a lighter and then we walked room to room gathering candles. Paul scouted out the situtation and found the entire area had gone dark, someone hit a power source with their vechile. So we settled in to wait out the darkness. The candles gave us enough light to gather round the table and play some old fashion board games. Gizmo survived his first blackout.

Losing It Slowly

2006- aprox size 24/262007
2008
2009 approx size 16

As the year is coming to a close I find myself reflecting on my goals for this year. One of which is to not just lose weight but become healthier, and more active. Seeing these photos reminds me that even if I do not see active weight loss, or feel like I am moving towards my goals that indeed I am. It just is at a slower rate than one would have hoped for.

Get 'em done!

Ack! I have crunched the numbers and due to numerous breaks from exercise this year (when I was feeling so overwhelmed that I just stayed in bed) I still have 135 miles to make it to my goal for this year. Ever year over the past 3 years I have tried to complete a certain number of track miles. In 2007 I tried for a lofty goal of 700 miles, I fell short and only hit 400. 2008 I decided to try and complete 100 miles more than the previous year and finished just over 500. So in 2009 once again I bumped up my miles by 100. In order to complete this task I will need to complete 2.5 miles over the next 55 days OR 3.5 miles over 39 days (getting rid of weekends). As long as I stay focused this should not be difficult, the problems come when I miss 1 day, and is twice as hard to go the following day, then it just snowballs.

I am asking if someone, anyone would try and check in once a week and see if the number of miles is going up on the side of my blog. If the number isn't going up then call me out! I would really appreciate it. :)

7 months ago

The hardest day...

Roomie

Have an extraordinary birthday Moe-Moe!

Enjoy it as much as you can.

The Mr. and I love you mucho.

You are the Billy to my Madison.

Baketastic

I love to bake! I wish I did it more often, but I don't want to bake and then have dozens of treats sitting around the apartment. If I am going to bake I want to be able to take it somewhere else and have others enjoy a tasty treat.

Homemade pizza! I bought whole wheat flour and made the crust myself. It was delicious and I really didn't taste a big difference between the whole wheat and regular flour.Okay so this isn't really baked but I love to make this yummy treat every year for Christmas.

You may be thinking boring... Those are just some lemon poppy seed muffins, however this is the maiden usage of my M&M reusable baking cups!
I believe these were made for Groundhogs Day when I was teaching 3rd grade.
Its the beach, on a cupcake.

Apparently those are the only photos of my creations. I will have to find some excuses to start baking.

Tonights gunna be a good night....

As I am home these days I am taking the opportunity to go through all of the boxes, and files we didn't take care of when we moved. Today I came across this...

Must have been a really super day, although I do not remember ever having a green car.

SO. DANG. EXCITED!!!

Charlie is HOME!!!She has been in Iraq for about 3 years and is finally back in the states. You were missed greatly Charlie and I cannot wait till you make it back to Cali.

Red Carpet Gallery

This year I have attended a handful of movie premieres. It was incredible to meet some of these amazing people. Here are the stars I had the opportunity to have a photo op with.

Jesse Metcalf, Allen Covert, Tom Green, Zach Levi Jon Heder, Ryan Reynolds, Sterling Knight
B.J. Novak, J.J. Abrams, Gerard Butler, Taylor Momsen
Briana Evigan, Joe Manganiello, Shane West, Bumblebee