From our house to yours...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just woke up from my turkey stupor, and am finally able to blog...

My mom made all the chefs and sous chefs matching aprons for the big day. Don't we look great??

Shortage

We've been on a closet-cleaning kick at our house lately.
By virtue of the fact that Richard is a man, three things are true about his wardrobe:
1. It is MUCH smaller than Shirley's or mine.
2. His clothes get dirtier, faster than Shirley's or mine.
3. His laundry turnover is faster and more important than Shirley's or mine because of #1 and #2.

It seems as if there is always a shortage of clean clothes for Richard to wear to work. To be fair, his requirements are not much--he only needs a pair of "nice" jeans and a shirt bearing the name of his company. By my last count, he had three shirts that work for work.
As you can imagine, this sometimes adds stress to our Sunday nights, trying to locate a clean shirt for Richard.
So...imagine my surprise and happiness when he found FOUR of them stuffed at the back of his closet this morning!
Just four more reasons to put off doing laundry!

Would you like fries with that?

I've been craving coffee lately, in a big way. It tastes so good to me that I will even drink decaf, which until previously, I didn't see the point in, but that is neither here nor there.
Since I usually have the Shirl in the car with me when I want coffee, I've been utilizing the drive through window more frequently than ever. I love it when I get a drive thru guy with a sense of humor...

At Caribou
Erin: I'd like a small, decaf white chocolate raspberry mocha, please.
Barista: Ok, so that's a small raspberry latte?
E: No, a small, decaf white chocolate raspberry mocha.
Barista: Oh, sorry. A small white chocolate mocha.
E: No, a small, decaf white chocolate raspberry mocha.
Barista: Ok. A small white chocolate raspberry mocha.
E: Decaf!
Barista: A smal, decaf white chocolate raspberry mocha?
E: I know how to party.
Barista: Yeah you do.

At Mcdonald's
Erin: Ooh! Can I try one of these new caramel frappes? Small?
Order Taker: A small frappuccino coming up.
[At the wondow]
OT: Here's your frappuccino.
E: Are you supposed to be calling them that?
OT: Fine, here's your FRAP-PAY.

Snob with a capitol SNOB.

Tonight I had the SUPERFUN (!!!) pleasure of going to see a midnight screening of New Moon with Masha. Remember ol' Masha?
The theater we were at sold out fourteen theaters! FOURTEEN THEATERS!
So, as you can imagine, things were a little crazy, and the girl in front of us was using her very beautiful purse to save a seat for a friend.
Out of my love for all things with handles, I tapped her on the shoulder and said, "You'd better guard your bag--I'd hate to see it get stolen!"
She replied, "Oh, NO one is touching my bag. This is a $500 purse. If anybody touches it, they're leaving. the. theater."
"Oh, right," I said.

Quietly, to Masha I said, "That's not a $500 bag."
She said, "I know, right??"
I said, "What do I look like? Some kind of schmuck?"
Masha said, "It's not even from this season."

Child #1 and Child #2

Richard and I are making practically zero headway in the Naming Baby #2 Department. Richard tends to be a more traditional, where I tend to like more unusual names, so we're having a very hard time agreeing on almost anything this time around.
Since time has flown by, and I expect the second half of my pregnancy to FLY by as well, I'm starting to feel the pressure, so I decided to take my concerns to Rich last night.
I started by saying, "Rich, we have to start getting serious about picking some names for the new baby. I don't want to give it a run of the mill, average name, because our kids are special. We both liked the name Shirley because it's so unusual, interesting and a little old-fashioned--"
"Yeah, but don't you think it would be confusing if they're both named Shirley?"


I guess I walked right into that one.

Can I just say?

If you want to pierce your eyebrow, it's your business. I really don't have a problem with it. In fact, on some people, many people, it can be very cute (read: Hannah N.).
BUT.
If, Nordic guy, you're going to pierce your eyebrow, maybe--and this is just a recommendation--you could take the time to tweeze? Just a little? And most importantly, more important than anything, in fact, DON'T choose the green earring / hardware. Next to your bushy blond eyebrow, it just looks infected and makes me very uneasy to drink the coffee or eat the meal you've just made for me.
I'm just saying.

Crisis Averted

Rich and I were faux-arguing tonight about who would go pick up dinner (today has truly been a day off), when I said, "Do I really look like I'm fit to go out in public?"
Richard, in his sweatpants and t-shirt said, "I'm not dressed any different than you! You should go."
I said, "No way, man. I'm not going anywhere."
He said, "Are you wearing a bra?"
I said, "Yes..."
Rich said, "See? You're more dressed than me. You should go."
I said, "Do you usually wear a bra when you go out for the day?"
Rich said, "Well...no."

Thank goodness, I say.

How do you know when you're really a grown up?

I know I've blogged about this before, but I just had to share a conversation I had with my cousin (who is the same age as me) this afternoon about what we are going to ask for for Christmas.

Erin: I dunno. Everything I want is really expensive, so I might just pool my Christmas money and buy one of them.
Nick: I asked for socks.
E: Oh, I always ask for socks, too. And pajamas.
N: I also asked for The Best of Genesis.
E: We're old.
N: Yeah...

Quilt Retreat: A,B,C; 1,2,3; Baby, you and me.

You know that feeling you get when you slowly realize you're into a project that's WAY over your head? That's how I started to feel around letter G.

It took me all weekend, but I managed to finish all the letters of the paper-pieced alphabet for the new quilt I'm working on.

And this is a picture of the baby quilt I started for Shirley Jean about two years ago when I was pregnant with her. Thanks, Kristi, for helping with the binding!

This ABC Quilt is brought to you by the number four.

Tailgators (Get it? Like Aligators?)

I am that jerk who pulls over to the side of the road to let you pass if you're following me too close.
I'm not sure why that makes *me* the jerk, though.

Spam

I just got an email whose subject line read: Do You Love Low-Priced Company?
What, interweb, could that mean???
Maybe I should have opened it.
Typically, if it's in my spam account and says something like, "Cheep Car for U," or "Erin D., US Cittzan," and it's from someone like Lunda Juhnson, I just delete. You know?

Shopping

Why shouldn't I be using anti-aging products on my "young" skin right now? I want my skin to stay young.
Follow my logic?
CoverGirl, you are a clever machine.

If Only

If only my washer and dryer were upstairs.
I would do laundry all. the. dog. gone. time.
I would be the laundry queen.
I would be the laundry master.
I would be the laundry monster.
If only I had an elevator to the basement.
If only the dishes were enchanted and loaded themselves into the dishwasher.
If only my floor was self-vaccuuming.
Then I would be really happy.

Hini Weenie

Today I was talking with a friend and she said, "You know, this flu thing is completely out of the blue. I wish they had said something on the news!"
Which leads me to my post for today:
I've turned into a bit of a germo-phobe in the last couple of weeks.
I DON'T WANT TO CATCH THE FLU!!!
And, apparently if I go to HudWis or River Falls, I will catch the flu. No offense, guys, but it seems like everyone on that side of the river is sick!
When I tell people this, they say, "Oh, yeah...you don't want to risk it with the pregnancy."
Yeah, yeah...that's it.
Actually, it's a completely selfish act of self-preservation: after the first 16 weeks of my pregnancy I learned that caring for a toddler when you feel like you-know-what (and I'm not talking about Lord Voldemort) is the worst.
So, we'll come back to HudWis when I stop seeing FB status updates that say things like, "Sooooo sick." "Got dressed today." and "Lord, just take me now."

p.s. WASH YOUR HANDS!

Mantiqueing.

Once a week (or so), Richard and Nick go "man-tique-ing." They describe it as, "What girls do when they go to antique shops...but insteat of antique shops, we go to pawn shops."

Makes sense to me.

They've only had to refuse to buy heroine once and as far as I know neither of them has purchased an engagement ring or a gun.

Are we at a different altitude?

Apparently baking cookies in Wausau requires actual measuring as opposed to my patented "Willy Nilly Bake Method" that has been so successful at home.
For the record, I'd like to point out that every. single. cookie. disappeared off this tray after I took the picture.

She finally caved.

For the Love Lauren.

Manly Men

Richard and my dad left on Tuesday morning to go to Glenrock, Wyoming on an antelope hunting trip. They are tent camping and doing stuff that manly men do in the woods for almost two weeks!
I just checked the weather forecast for that area of the country...it's gonna be cold.
This is what's on my mind today.
I'm praying that they have a wonderful time and that they are safe and manage to stay warm.
In the mean time, Shirley and I are "camping out" in Wausau. If you're in the area, give a call. :)

*Update*
I just got the following text messages from Richard:
Crazy day. We got permission to hunt on land owned by the brother of a lady named Shirley [last name]. And... your dad had a disaster blind date with her in 1978.

WHuuuT?!? Hahahahaha!

I've no one to blame but myself.

So...after spending an hour and a half on the Sallie Mae website last night and a solid hour on the phone with Sallie Mae this morning, imagine my embarrassment and exasperation when I realized I no longer owe Sallie Mae any money.
If you're interested, the phone number for Federal Direct Loan Servicing is 1-800-557-7392. They were happy to talk about the money I still owe them.

Free to be Me.

Richard: This is funny. You can get a Hummer for like $13,000.
Erin: We should get one. I've been wanting something with more guts.
Richard: I don't think it would be a smart purchase.
Erin: You never just let me be myself.