This and That

1.  37 weeks today, party people!  Full-effing-term!  Pretty freaky that from any point on we could just, like, have a baby.  Guess I'd better get that carseat installed, huh?  And that hospital bag packed.  And those meatballs made to put in the freezer.  Shoot.  Still too much crap to do.

2.  Had an ultrasound on Friday and the boy was weighing in at 7 lbs. 3 oz., which was only like a week ahead.  And his head was only measuring a week ahead, which was comforting since at our last ultrasound his head was measuring 3 weeks ahead.  I mean, I've got a strong body and all, but I don't want to split in half.  It's freaky to look at clothes in his closet and be all, "Oh, he could just wear this, like, right now."  Man oh man.  Oh, and the boy's in the perfect position for being born, so that's nice.  Also nice that he's following directions at such an early age.

3.  We had the most fun weekend ever.  Really it deserves its own post, but I'm lazy and uncomfortable because I'm full of a fetus and about 4,000 calories worth of food right now, so I'll do it later.

4.  United States of Tara is our new favorite ellipting show.  It's on Netflix instant, and you might need to watch it.

5.  I need Mad Men to come back RIGHT NOW.  RIGHT NOW!  There's not enough Don Draper in my life.  (Matt quit smoking and I can't have bourbon in the middle of the day anymore.)

6.  Feeling like a horrible (which I just accidentally typed out whorrible--uh, hi there, Mr. Freud) person because I totes missed the 100th birthday of one of my all-time faves: the Oreo.  WHY ARE THEY SO GOOD?  Happy birthday, sweet Oreo.  Also, if I don't get a package of these birthday cake Oreos I'm going to have a tantrum.

7.  Back in the Day Bakery cookbook came out yesterday, but I'm waiting until Saturday to buy my copy from the bakery itself and see if I can't get it signed.  Can't wait to thumb through those pages and get my shiny book all covered in flour and baking messes!  Oh, and speaking of the cookbook, you should probably read Cheryl Day's interview about it here.  My favorite part is about their wedding.

8. Finally, I guess you're just dying to see what I look like full-term.  Here's a picture of me jumping.

I'm really into wearing black and white lately.  It's so early '90s.

This and That

1.  Um, how can I not take my furry firstborn to the dog park when he looks at me like this?

2.  Just another sign that Mitch and I are E.T. and Elliot: the other day my feet smelled like Doritos.

3.  I want to eat this.

4.  Six more weeks of being knocked up!  I think the boy might have dropped because now I can breathe again and I don't feel his little feet all jacked up in my ribs.  It's nice to be able to breathe, but a little bit annoying to have to pee every .2 seconds.  Oh well.  Six weeks.

5.  Um, could Matthew Crawley be any more handsome?

6.  Um, could the Domino's parmesan bread bites be any more delicious?  We totes got lured into the parmesan bread bite trap this weekend when we ordered pizza because they were only $1, and I think that now they could charge $55 for them and Mitch and I would pay it.

7.  Furry valentines.  (Matt is bearded now since he's going to be a dad.  Apparently that's what you do.  Also, we can't find the cord to his clippers.)

I'm excited for this weekend because it'll be full of these and her and him and him.  And a three-day weekend to boot!

This and That

Here's what's been awesome around here lately.

1.  Last Friday a friend loaned us her passes to the Savannah Film Festival where we went to see the Director's Choice film, where the movie isn't announced beforehand.  So we were super pleasantly surprised when the movie turned out to be The Muppets!  We were the first audience in the world to see the movie (see: we are important and influential).  Not surprisingly, the movie was fantastic, and I smiled the entire time.  My face hurt afterward.  Go see it when it comes out.  (It's way better than this trailer might suggest.)

2.  Also, when we were at the film festival on Friday, I saw this handsome man walk past, and I kind of recognized him.  I told Matt that I thought that had been a famous actor man, because he was handsome and because he was dressed like a famous actor man and because there were all of these people who seemed to be treating him like he was really important.  Old Roommate Cris had mentioned that James Marsden was in town, and I told Matt that maybe that had been him.  Matt then proceeded to list off everything that James Marsden had done that he knew (X-Men, Modern Family, etc.) and I couldn't place him.  I couldn't place him until, right before The Muppets, they gave some award to James Marsden and showed a montage of all of his very important and influential work.  Then I realized where I knew him from: 27 Dresses.  Oh yes, my Saturday night HBO guilty pleasure movie.  Matt shook his head in shame and likely contemplated divorce.  Hell, at least I didn't recognize him from Bride Wars, right?  Right?

3.  During a conversation with my coteacher yesterday about cord blood storage, one of my best students walked into our conversation and asked, "Whore's blood?  Like a harlot?"  Love that kid.

4.  Really, really pleased with myself because last week I found a BOB Revolution stroller on Craigslist for $100.  And it's awesome, and smooth and beautiful and I'm really obsessed with it.  Mitch, however, seems to think that this is just another form of a bicycle (and Mitch HATES bicycles), so he pretty much just barks at it and is less than thrilled when Matt and I chase him around the house with it.  I think that once he begins to associate the stroller with walks, though, he'll warm up to it.  Hell, the stroller has a weight limit of 70 pounds, so if I could get him strapped in correctly, I could put Mitch in it!  Should've gotten a double stroller. . .

5.  Three-day weekend, three-day weekend, three-day weekend!  I've got grand plans of doing very little and of eating much.  There will be naps.  There will be Parenthood marathons.  There will be some ellipting.  There will be nary a teenager.  Shoot yeah!

Happy days to you!

This and That

1.  Made a birthday cake for my teacher friend's mom's 95th birthday this week.  She wanted caramel icing, which I'd never made and was, quite frankly, a little afraid of.  I used this recipe, and it took a while.  But that was okay, because I had Brothers & Sisters streaming the whole time.  And apparently the icing was exactly what they wanted.  Shoot yeah!

2.  Also, I am completely out of Brothers & Sisters episodes.  I don't know what makes me more sad--that I don't have any more episodes to watch, or that I spent days of my life watching like 110 episodes of that show.  But, since it's over, I need something new.  I'm trying out Parenthood, and I've ordered season 1 of Six Feet Under.  It needs to be something I haven't seen already because I need it to to keep me interested during ellipting, but it can't be too brainy (looking at you, The Wire) because I also want to watch it as a precursor to nap. Any suggestions?

3.  Oh, also, while I was making caramel icing, I was on the step where I had to melt sugar in a cast iron skillet.  I know caramel can be temperamental, and I didn't want it to burn, so while the sugar was bubbling, I decided to stick my finger right in it to check if it tasted burnt.  Yeah, that felt good.  Blast sure is learning some interesting language now, isn't he?  So I've been spending some time nursing my poor finger lately.

4.  Totes did some home repair work last weekend in the guest room/nursery.  I read in a book that you're not supposed to feed your baby a diet of paint chips, so something needed to be done.  Well, shoot.  So there was scraping and sanding and hole-filling and sanding again and painting and curtain rod and new curtain hanging. Now the room looks clean and inviting instead of like some evil alien lair.

5.  Remember how I went all bananas for my Tempurpedic travel pillow?  Well, I lost it for a while, but found it under our bed last weekend while cleaning.  Then, a couple of mornings ago, I woke up to find that Mitch had snagged my pillow and was using it.  I guess we need to get a new one?  Also, what kind of spoiled dog needs a Tempurpedic pillow?

6.  Started a youtube playlist at school because they blocked Pandora.  I added the 500 Days of Summer theme song to my list, but when it started playing, it played Patrick Swayze's "She's Like the Wind."  Well if that isn't a wonderful Friday surprise, what is? She leads me to moonlight, only to burn me with the sun!

7.  I think I might be starting to look actually pregnant instead of just pregnant with garlic bread and sandwiches.  My jeans still fit and stuff, but I think there might be a little bit of a uterus lump now.  Anyway, yesterday I went to try on some of the maternity jeans that Ann gifted me (thanks, Ann!), and I realized that they were insanely comfortable.  I mean, they were basically all of the comfort of pajama jeans, but with the look of actual jeans!  So I wore them, and I slept in them, and I haven't really taken them off since yesterday.  Is it appropriate to wear maternity jeans for the rest of my life?

8.  Oh, also, my face has broken out like a sombitch.  My skin hasn't looked this bad since I was in ninth grade, before I realized that I can't use soap on it.  And this really pisses me off because in my special deal with the universe I got a few things: a decent level of intelligence (ignore the incident from #3), good hand-eye coordination, manageable hair, and nice skin.  And now, since I've been hosting Blast, my face looks like the before picture in a Proactiv ad.  This is some bull jive, universe!  We're in a fight.

9.  Don't forget to vote for the Savannah Humane Society!  Mitch thanks you!

May your week be free from injuries and full of candy!

This and That

Well, I've been such a slackass here because, well, I don't think that you have much interest in my recounting every detail of the last 8 episodes of Brothers & Sisters that I've watched, and because I'm not really baking or ice creaming lately because I'm afraid of making the fetus one of record-breaking giganticness, and because, well, I'm beat.

But life has been good lately, and here's what's keeping me smiling these days.

1.  Sometimes when I'm bored in the car, I stare at the ends of my hair and then pull the gray ones out.  The other day I pulled out a really long hair that was half-gray and half-brown.  But here's the thing: it started off gray and then turned brown!  So, basically what I'm telling you is that I'm Benjamin Button. In about 15 years I'll be the same age as my spawn!

2.  Boardwalk Empire.  Oh, Nucky!  (Maybe I had a very disturbing dream about Nucky Thompson during which we were more than friends?)  I love that show with my heart and soul, and it makes me want to cut my hair short and drink gin and break the law.

3.  Modern Family.  Who's your favorite character?  Mine's Phil, probably because he's the most Ross-Gellar-like.  Matt loves Luke.

4.  Mitch keeps laughing because he says that the baby's going to have to sleep in a crate while he sleeps in the big bed.

5.  Macaroni and cheese from the Publix deli.  Yeah, it doesn't do much on the "not making the baby gigantic" front, but it's so delicious that it makes me feel like the kid could weight 20 lbs. at birth and I wouldn't care.

6.  Sweatpants.  Oh, sweatpants.

7.  The elliptical.  I've been an ellipting machine lately.  A MACHINE!  Since the first trimester was basically a breeze for me, I have this fear that the third will be hell on earth.  So, in an effort to build up my core muscles like a sombitch so that I will be less uncomfortable come February, and in an effort to become less fat so that I don't break scales and have to wear tarps as clothing, I've been ellipting almost every day.  It's paying off, too.  It's also carving out extra calorie space for Publix deli macaroni and cheese.

8.  Hearing Matt in the other room while watching Survivor just say loudly to the TV, "Kill yourself."  Apparently this season's survivors are particularly loathsome.

9.  The fact that the writing test is over.  Yes, I am giant-stacks-of-essays free for a good number of months now. And my kiddies felt pretty confident.  Fingers crossed for 8-12 weeks until we get the results!

10.  Beautiful, crisp, window-open Saturdays.  I heart October.

With that, I've got some sweatpants to don, some macaroni and cheese to inhale, some Brothers & Sisters to watch, a dog and husband to snuggle with, and no essays to grade.

Hope your weekend is lovelier than reverse aging!

This and That

1.  Put the white couch cover on and I'm completely in love.  Also pretty enamored with my new Savannah toille pillow.  Maybe having the white cover will inspire me to be better about keeping the floors clean?  Oh, and I still can't decide which color to dye the other one.  Oh, and if this one looks a little dingy it's because it's the one from the as-is bin and I just haven't washed it.  Probably going to get some kind of weird communicable disease or something, but I was tired of doing laundry.

2.  Yesterday was a day dedicated to doing nothing except eating, watching Parks & Recreation, and assigning a Hogwarts house to everyone we know.  In short, if you are awesome, you go to Gryffindor.  If you are kind of awesome, but more nerdy than awesome, then you go to Ravenclaw.  If you are dumb, you go to Hufflepuff.  And if we don't like you, you go to Slytherin.  And just to make sure that our assessments are accurate, I just took an online quiz, and I'm totes Gryffindor.  Duh.

3.  I think there should be a "correct pronoun usage" challenge on the Real World/Road Rules Challenge.  Also, CT is hot.  Crazy, maybe has rabies, but hot nonetheless.  Matt thinks I have bad taste and that CT eats his young.  Have we talked about this before?

That cut above his eye is probably from fighting a helicopter or trying to bite the head off of a rhinoceros.

4.  Mitch is still the cutest dog on the planet.  I think he's a little mad at us right now, though, because we have yet to buy him his own lake house and boat.

5.  I can't watch that Sarah MacLaughlin commercial (that's on right now, but I'm averting my eyes) with all of the dogs and cats because it makes me cry like a baby and then I just want to buy a farm and just adopt dogs and cats and be crazy.

6.  Made Spicy Pork Stew for dinner the other night, because apparently I'm on a spicy pork kick, and because it's actually one of the most healthy things we make, besides, you know, lettuce and ice cube popsicles.  The original recipe came from some diabetes website, and Cassie says that I should just call it diabetes stew, which would set really low expectations, and then when people eat it they'll be amazed at how good it is.  (Kind of like the movie Hot Tub Time Machine.) It's really good.  It's even better with this cornbread.

7.  If you haven't checked it out already, go to Cassie's bee-log and learn how to make mayonnaise by watching her vee-log.  I hate mayonnaise, but I kind of want to make it and then make some fancy chicken salad or something.

8.  Are you on Pinterest yet?  Come play with me on Pinterest, already!

9.  I took a shower this morning (amazing, I know), and my hair is still wet 14 hours later.  Oh, delightful Savannah humidity.

10.  I think that if I don't watch my favorite HBO movie, It's Complicated, RIGHT THIS SECOND, the universe might implode.

Hope your Friday is the bee's knees!

This and That

1.  I have been in a terrible mood today, and for no good reason, either.  Well, one good reason, perhaps.  I have poison ivy all over my face.  If you're thinking to yourself, "Man, Mandy sure does get poison ivy a lot," well then you'd be right.  Hey, universe, I'd like to trade in this intense poison ivy allergy for a seafood allergy.  (I don't even eat seafood.)  The only good thing about having poison ivy all over your face (okay, well two good things because I'm milking it like a sombitch--"Matt, can you get me my glass of wine? I can't because I have poison ivy all over my face.") is that I get to say multiple times a day, "I'M A MONSTER" in my best Buster Bluth voice.



2.  Matt's at bar trivia right now.  I'm not there because I was being such a miserable human being earlier this evening and I didn't think it would be nice to subject people to being around me.  Plus, I went last week and I spent the last 10 minutes (felt like ten hundred!) listening to members of Matt's trivia team (including Matt, even though he maintains that he was only in the argument because of a logical fallacy) debate another trivia team about who would win in a fight, Superman or Batman.  Seriously.  That happened.  I've never felt so cool in all my life.  Matt would like me to tell you that those discussion do not happen every week.  Uh huh.

3.  Listening to my Motown Christmas music Pandora station right this second.  I love Christmas music.  But I always give a thumbs down to anything by Chris Brown because he hits ladies.

4.  Had a dream last night that there was a drive-shooting and I thought Matt was killed except that then it was just a paintball drive-by and I got super mad and yelled at the driver and made him feel awful and then John and Sherry from Young House Love were our next-door neighbors and they came over and helped us fix up our house after the paintball attack.  They're so nice.

5.  We had a monster of a wasp in the house today.  Matt killed it with my shoe.  Well, sort of.  He split it in half and then the front half kept on living and trying to kill us for like five minutes. Then I told Matt that I couldn't even wear that poison shoe anymore and he blamed me.  He said that the wasp was a result of my evil angry mood and that I'd just opened my mouth and it flew out.

Here's to a happy, less swollen Wednesday!

This and That

Well, it's only Monday and my brain is pretty much fried.  Mother F.  (Oh, man, I just realized that if I ever had a kid I could get people to call me Mother F!  Yesssssssssssss!)

This cat cracks me up.

But here's what's happening.

1. Right now I smell something bad and I don't know if it is the dog or my feet.  Maybe both?  Wait, I just pulled my foot up to my nose.  It was the dog.  Sadly, that's kind of a relief.
2. I don't care that Taco Bell's beef is not 100% ground organic true beef from some sort of magical talking cow.  Was anyone out there under the impression that their tacos and crunchwraps were all-natural or good for you?  I know that I go to Taco Bell when I want cheese that's squeezed from the same thing that caulk is squeezed from, and when I want bad service from people who are too dumb and too rude to get a job anywhere else.  When I want fancy, I'll go to an actual Mexican restaurant, or to Wendy's.
3. Oh, hey!  I just had a really good idea.  Taco Bell should serve margaritas.  No?  Not a good idea?  Shoot.
4. Matt finally got the HDMI cable to work on our tv and seeing news people's faces that up close and personal is kind of freaking me out.  I think I'll just squint my eyes from now on when we watch Hardball.*
5. I made the most delicious treat this weekend, a treat that I've been plotting for months (no, seriously) and that I can't wait to share with you.  It'll have to happen in stages, because it contains that much awesomepants awesomeness.  Put on your elastic pants and get ready, friends, because this one is just that good.

Okay, well, I'm going to go watch Jeopardy! with Matt.  (Read: yell out the answers .10 seconds after he yells them out just to annoy him.  Ha!)

*Oh, and no, I'm not drunk, but I kind of wish I was.

This and That

1. Matt and I did meal planning and grocery shopping tonight that should last us through December 17 or so (with one or two quick produce and dairy trips in there).  Of the thirteen dinners we have planned, only five are things we've made before, so be on the lookout for some new delicious (assuming, of course, that they are indeed delicious) recipes.

2. First up on that list was Martha Stewart's Chicken with Prosciutto and Sage.  Matt says that his additions of red pepper and garlic as a base to the sauce, and his decision to double the sauce (we almost always double the sauce) and serve it over pasta makes our version Matt's Famous Chicken Cutlets with Prosciutto and Sage.  We both agreed that it was a make again meal.  Mitch concurred.  Basically, anytime that a meal includes prosciutto, it becomes a make again meal.

Martha's picture

Our picture.  I couldn't get a good picture of this meal to save my life. 
Plus, I was impatient and hungry, so I stopped caring about getting a good picture. 

3. I LOVE Nucky Thompson.  Is everyone watching Boardwalk Empire or what?  Is everyone else finding Nucky strangely attractive or what?  No?

4. Have you seen Baby June yet?  She's a cuteness.  That face!

5. Pretty sure the 'roid rage is gone.  Also, I think the 'roid rage had a lot to do with my being less than enthusiastic about returning to work today.

6. But today was pretty great.  I started reading The Great Gatsby with my eleventh graders and A Raisin in the Sun with my ninth graders, so that was nice.  A little bit of F. Scott is always good for the soul.

7. Oh, and just yesterday I heard this really cool radio program (what am I, 90?) about The Great Gatsby and its influence on American culture.  Great timing, NPR! (And you can listen below.)

8. An exchange (and evidence for why I will NOT be earning any teacher of the year awards anytime soon):

Me: . . .and there's a movie for the play, too.  It's got what's-his-name in it.  I don't know, what's he go by now?  Dude changes his name every year, it seems. . . 

Student: He's Diddy now.

Me: Changed his name again, Diddy?

9.  Matt says that a bowl full of leftover Butterfinger Halloween candy is not an appropriate snack.  I say Matt's not the boss of me.

10.  Why is Fletcher so cute?  That face!

Okay, well I'm off to either ellipt and then shower or to avoid ellipting and showering.  Or maybe I'll just eat some more Butterfingers and cuddle with the dogs on the couch.  Whatever happens, I'm sure it'll be awesome.  Happy day to you!

This and That

1.  Went to the Battle of the Bands on Sunday with Cris.  Since there were going to be camera crews there filming for the sequel to Drumline (a movie that I made Matt go with me to see in the theater years ago), and since we share a love for marching bands, we were super pumped to go.  I have to admit, though, that it was only kind of fun.  The bands played to only one side of the stadium the entire time (not our side), and we were sitting in the glaring sun.  At times, I felt like my face would burst into flames.  There were a few awesome moments, though.  Like this kid:

And these guys, who were billed as the "Five Hottest Guys on Earth."  You can be the judge of that.

2.  Matt can't wait to see this movie.  He's bananas for keeping Christ in Christmas.



3.  There's some alpha dog shit happening in our house.

4.  I'm basically a professional fantasy football player.  I'm 2-0 in my league, and I keep telling Matt that he could stand to learn from me.  East Dillion Lions all the way, baby!

5.  Can we start a petition to get Amber from Teen Mom sterilized?

6.  I have this new strategy to keep myself from being such a fatass: eating from smaller bowls.  Sure, sometimes that means that I eat two bowls of delicious food (like tonight's Kung Pao Chicken).  But sometimes I don't, and the plan is that this will lead me to eating smaller portions (i.e., not the amount of food that four humans would eat per day).  Am I still allowed to fill the bowl to be super full?

7.  Matt and I are [tentatively] planning to head north Halloween weekend to visit with family and friends and to attend Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity.  Who wants to join?

8.  So, I wear heels to school almost every day.  And I have to walk around our campus a lot, and I'm always in some kind of hurry because I just want to get back to my classroom and my uber comfortable chair.  Time and again, I'll have someone poke their head around a corner or out a classroom door and tell me that they knew it was me coming because of the sound of the heels.  I don't really know what to make of this.  All I can figure is that I must have the least feminine, least delicate walk of all time.  Basically, I'm girl Shrek on heels.  Either that, or I'm aggressive and determined.  Let's go with the latter.  Or some combination of the two.  I give up.

Happy hump day!

Ten Things

I have a lot to say.

1. You should read Caitie's latest post, because it has pictures and video footage of Mitch as a puppy.  I'm in it, too.  Caitie's the best.
2. You should read Cassie's latest post about her adventures in her back yard.  I was laughing so hard that I cried--while waiting in line at the post office.  It was embarrassing, but it was worth it.
3. I would make out with President Obama, if given the chance, and if Michelle condoned the act.
4. Am I the only person in the world who doesn't give a rat's ass about the World Cup?
5. Victoria Secret's semi-annual sale started today.  Did I go there at 9:00 a.m. today?  Did I realize that I've been wearing the wrong bra size and that I do, indeed, have "fat girl" boobs now?  Um, no?  Because I was at work, working diligently, during that time? 
6. Today I discovered the solution to Mitch's thunderstorm neuroses: a Kong filled with high-quality American cheese.  It soothes the soul--both human and dog.
7. Matt is the best griller that I've ever known in real life.
8. I only have two more days of work.  This is that part where you are consumed with envy.

9. John Beohner looks like an Oompa Loompa.  Also, Oompa Loompas are creepy.  I tried to convince my family to dress all of my cousins (when the cousins were about 3 years old) as Oompa Loompas for Halloween, because I thought that would be the creepiest costume of all.  They didn't, and I unfriended all of them on Facebook.  Seriously.  Don't be friends with your family on Facebook.  It's dangerous.
10. Fuck you, BP.  Even though I don't believe in hell, I sometimes wish that there was a hell, so that I could imagine you burning in it eternally. 

This and That

Oh man oh man.  Here's what's been on my mind of late:

• Can I please have this dress?
• And can I please look like this in it?
• New season of Friday Night Lights is making both Matt and Mandy very happy viewers.  I've even gone back and started rewatching FNL Season 1 on Netflix Instant (via our awesome Wii streaming disc).  Oh, Coach Taylor. . .  Oh, Tami Taylor.  I think Matt and I are going to invite them into our relationship.  Not really. 


• Mitch is becoming more neurotic by the week.  Anytime he get a bone larger than a small Milk Bone, he has to go outside and bury it, and he has a look of desperation on his face until he finishes the task.  Right now he's got these big rawhide bones (a gift from Aunt Cassie), and he's a damned weirdo.  I'm not looking forward to thunderstorm season.

• But, wait.  Thunderstorm season is summer, and summer is no school.  Guess I can deal with a little bit of pup neurosis.  (Nineteen more days of school.  NINETEEN!  That's fewer than twenty!  That's four weeks!)
• I've been vacuuming almost daily.  Who knew that housecleaning could be so fun?
• Have you started watching Breaking Bad yet?  You need to be.  The premise: high school chemistry teacher finds out he has cancer and starts cooking meth.  Craziness ensues. 
• I'm really ready for Lost to be over.  I'm sick of all of the questions.  And I'm sick of Kate.  And I have a feeling that I'm not going to be wild about the finale, either. 
• Cris had me take the true colors personality test.  I'm an orange (with gold tones).  I would bet money that Matt's a green.  What are you?
• I'm down to about 25% sick now instead of 50%, so that's good.  Hopefully in the next few days I will be 0% sick.  I'm going to eat six grapefruit for dinner.

Hope your Monday is lovely!

This and That

A few things to get you through your Monday. (Mondays are my worst days; I have school and then a class--a dreadful class that sucks my soul from my body--and I don't get home until around 7:00. Boo hiss. The up side is that Matt usually has dinner ready for me when I return home, just like a 1950's housewife.)

• First, if you feel like you just can't find the perfect gift for that special someone, try the above rug. It's only 1K, and if you really want, you can have it autographed by Sarah Palin. (Okay, so that last part's a lie, and no polar bears died for the sake of this rug. It's from Etsy, and you can buy it here.)
• Speaking of Etsy, Matt ordered my "Bad Dingo" tote bag just in time. He got the very last one! I am REALLY excited about walking around carrying the bag. When he emailed the seller, he explained to her that our dogson is an American Dingo and had a tag that said that he's a baby eater. (We got him a different tag when he got bigger and more fierce looking. Now it calls him a professional snuggler.)
• Speaking of Matt, he is currently watching football and yelling and clapping. Mitch is lying by my feet under the desk, terrified of his manic father and loud noises.
• Speaking of football, did you see that Smash Williams won the Heisman? I saw that, and I even got to throw out some fake football knowledge during the show, all stuff I've heard Matt say. "You know, Tebow's game won't really transfer to the pros. He plays much more of a running game and he's not as accurate at passing. . .It's basically the difference between Matt Saracen and J.D. McCoy." Everything I know about football I know from listening to Matt talk to his friends and watching Friday Night Lights.
• Speaking of awesome television, 60 Minutes had both Obam' and Ricky Gervais on tonight. It warmed my soul. I think that Ricky Gervais is perhaps the funniest person alive today.
• Speaking of funny, isn't it weird that I've had two cute kid posts lately? Fear not--I do not have Baby Rabies (thanks for the term, Carly!). That shan't happen anytime soon, or ever.
• But speaking of things that shall happen soon, I've only got five glorious days of school until Mitchmas break. Friday the Savannah family is coming for Mitchmas dinner, and my friend Maureen and her husband are coming for New Year's. She's a vegetarian. Any good vegetarian recipes you'd like to share?
• Speaking of food, I feel like I eat enough on a daily basis to feed a small country, or at least an elementary school. It's disgusting and terrible, yet I won't stop. Matt's going to have to knock out walls in our house and invest in a horse trailer just to get me out of the house.

Happy Monday to you! Anything fun happening? What are your plans for Mitchmas?