This and That

Hey there!  Happy 2012, peeps.  I hope your year is starting off swimmingly.  Ours actually is, which is good considering that I spent most of the last two days of 2011 being an emotional, horomonal sissypants.  (My hypothesis is that the boy was going through a massive growth spurt, which made me uncomfortable, gigantic, and brought with it a surge of horomones that left me a sobbing mess.  If you have proof that that's not what happened, then I don't want to hear it because it's the only way I can explain myself without admitting to be a complete psychopath.)

So we've got some catching up to do, don't we?

1.  Mitch is still the cutest dog who's ever lived.  He's been polishing off the last of the homemade dog treats that we made in Virginia for all of his dog friends and cousins, which means that Matt and I have been finding little cheesy flax-seeded biscuits buried in blankets and couch cushions all around the house.  Right now he is barking at sassing me because Matt is watching football and Mitch hates football.  He'd rather go lie in his dirt spot, which is currently a mud spot because it's raining.  Seems fitting, since I just made our bed up with all white linens.

2.  I love this commercial with my entire heart and soul.



3.  I also love these Asian Turkey Meatballs with my entire heart and soul.

4.  Matt is a crazy ellipting fool.  Did you know that?  Did you know that after he implemented a self-improvement plan a year and a half ago he's been the incredible shrinking Matt?  And that every time we see someone we haven't seen in a while they say something along the lines of, "Oh, wow, Matt!   You look great!  What is your secret?  Amazing!  Oh, hi, Mandy."  It's extra fun now, you know, now that he's knocked me up and I'm getting fatter by the second.

5.  Oh em gee!  I totes forgot to tell you that my former almost fiance Matty Fraker who owns the cupcakery in Richmond, Frostings, was on Cupcake Wars tonight.  It replays on Tuesday at 8 p.m., so if you have the chance you should totally watch it.  Shoot yeah, Matty!



6.  Have you watched Downton Abbey?  If you haven't, you totally should.  It's pretty and smart and a little bit soap opera-y but not stupid.  AND, it's on Netflix Instant, so you have no excuse not to watch it.  There are only 7 episodes in the first season (oh, silly British television's short seasons), but season 2 begins again soon.  Plus, it has the handsome Matthew Crowley who is handsome and has a nice accent and looks good in a tuxedo and is also handsome.

7.  Not really doing any New Year's resolutions this year because I'm a little busy gestating a human, and all I really want to do is get through the year without being a psycho.  So that's my resolution: not to be a psycho. Shecky says that saying not to be a psycho is too definite and possibly unattainable, so I should actually make the resolution to be less of a psycho.  Either way.  My goal is for the crazy to be on the decline.  How's about that?

8.  Our New Year's Eve was pretty lame, even by our homebody standards.  Matt had to work, and I was in such a foul mood that I went shopping with a scowl on my face, so I went to Publix and bought a no sugar added reduced fat cheesecake (which was surprisingly good) and some sugar-free Jello (can you tell I have a glucose test fast approaching?).  I ate half of the cheesecake (it was a little one), and still felt like an angry troll, so I decided to take a nap around 9:00, in the hopes that I would wake up a better person.  Surprisingly, it worked.  I woke up when my neighbors started setting off fireworks at midnight, ate a bowl of booze-less Jello, and Matt and I watched Downton Abbey (seriously, go watch it now).  So the 2011 part of New Year's Eve sucked, but the 2012 part was pretty nice.

So that's what's going on here.  Was crazy, am not crazy now, hope not to be crazy in the future.  Dogs are cute and cheesecake is delicious.

How is your 2012 shaping up?

Hola, 2011.

New Year's is nice, but I kind of don't care about it.

Since I have been either in school or teaching school since I was five (except for those two years after college when I just waited tables and made bad decisions), I measure my years by school years instead of calendar years.  So really New Year's is just kind of depressing to me because it means that I have to go back to work soon, and gone will be the days of lounging around in my pajamas, staying up until 4:00 a.m. talking to Matt and drinking wine, and then sleeping in until noon just because I can.

And I don't really do resolutions, either (I talked about it some last year, but really it's just because I'm lazy and don't care).  And since it's considered poor form to make your New Year's resolution "to get knocked up," well, I guess I'm just going to say that I don't have one.

But I do think Mitch wants a kid sister.  (Yeah, yeah, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit, too.) (Oh, and we're not getting a goat!  Not that kind of kid!)

This is the part where I post 7 of the 121 pictures I took of him snuggling with Iris and Opal on the couch tonight while they watched Toy Story 3.

For serious!

In other news, tomorrow is my last day of vacation, and I kind of want to lie on the ground and kick and scream like a small child.  But we've got oodles of fun fast approaching, so there's no point in being a baby.

Also, my car won't start.  (Booooo!)

Also, it's raining, which means that I won't be vacuuming the floor for at least nine days.

I'm out of things to say right now.  Except that I'm ashamed of myself for still liking (really liking) Don Draper after he does so many skeevy things.

Oh man, looks like 2011 is off to a rocky start.

How about you?  Any resolutions?  Any dogs on couches with cute girls?

Hello, 2010.

Deepest apologies for the lack of posts lately. I've been spending my days perusing the inventory of each Gap in town, working to pay for the shopping, hosting our friends Brian and Maureen who are here for some good times, and basically moving from the couch to my bed back to the couch. It's been pretty great. So here's some random stuff for your reading pleasure:

• Wow, how mean of me to leave up the post about my stinky feet for you to click on over and over. Sorry about that. Next time I abandon the blog for a week I'll leave up a picture of a cute puppy or something.


• I want a puppy. I know that I don't, and I know I shouldn't tempt fate because I already havea the greatest pup on the planet, but I just love them. It's a bad decision, though, and I know that. Deep breaths, no puppy. More deep breaths.


• Maureen and Brian are huge fans of Family Feud. Brian's comments during the show are nothing short of philosophical, and the commercials that air during the show demonstrate that we are NOT the targeted demographic, and won't be for another 45 years. A few more days of sitting around eating pounds of Mexican food and wearing my Snuggie, though, and I just might need that special stick tool to help me put on my shoes. Seriously. That's a real thing. But what I really want is the mechanical chair to get me up the stairs. Or maybe the rubber band to put around my stomach to get me to lose weight.


• And while we're on it, I'm not making any New Year's resolutions. I never do them. That's actually a lie. I've followed through on my resolutions 3 times: 1.) When I was in third grade and vowed that by the end of the year I would beat Super Mario Brothers 2. Check. 2.) When I was in 10th grade and was determined to teach myself to raise one eyebrow. Check. 3.) When I was a senior in college and, with my friend Becky, decided that we would "let ourselves go." Like in a fat and sloppy kind of way. Check. (Maybe that wasn't the smartest resolution to make?)


• Maybe I should do the reverse psychology resolution? Like, I'll resolve to gain 50 pounds. Then, if I don't follow through, great. If I do, I'll be overweight enough to get that stomach band that's advertised during Family Feud?


• And, finally, last night I got a call from my brother Jordan, who said that he'd gotten a call from our father asking if he was okay. Apparently, someone called my Grandma Carol and Grandpa B, and told them that their grandson (Jordan's the only grandson) had rented a car to get to a wedding in Toronto, and had somehow landed himself in prison and therefore needed money for bail. (I believe this is a somewhat-common scam.) My grandparents didn't think too much of it, fortunately. Jordan, though, told me, "Man, I must've been really drunk because I don't remember that AT ALL. . .I just hope I don't have some Canadian warrant out for my arrest. I mean, I'd be just, like, sitting at a bar having a beer, and all of a sudden some Mounties would come in and arrest me."

Happy New Year!