Project Time

Well, it happened. I was invited to the baby shower for the woman I talked about a long time ago at the bottom of this post. I wasn't going to go on principle, but my co-workers needled me until I agreed and RSVPed, so I'm going. There's a group gift, to which we're each expected to give $20 unless we're getting our own gift for the mom-to-be. Yeah, right. So I decided to do my own gift and start a new project at the same time. Here's the gift (two parts):

They're baby hats. She's having a boy, so I went the obnoxiously traditional route and made a blue one. Then, because it didn't take nearly as long as I wanted it to (about 1.5 hours) I made another one using a different pattern.

Aaron asked why I was spending so much time on someone when I didn't even want to go to the shower in the first place. Really, my reasons are all selfish, and include: 1) I love when people fawn over something I made with my own two hands, and 2) I really needed more practice following crochet patterns. I started in on a blanket last night, which may or may not go to this woman as well. It really all depends on if I can finish it on time. I'm not going to rush and try to finish it before then. If it happens, it happens, and if it doesn't I know two other people who are having babies within the next couple of months.

Also, the biggest way to start an even higher baby fever in my husband is to make really tiny things and then show him. It also worked on a couple of women at work. Oh, and me too. Now I totally want a baby, like, yesterday.

Forgetfulness is Costing Me

One of my worst traits is that I can be very forgetful. Many people see this as carelessness, and this bothers me, so I try to work on it. My forgetful nature drives Aaron nuts. He just doesn't see how someone can forget to do/bring/etc. so much. The saying, "She would forget her head if it weren't screwed on," definitely applies to me.

Sometimes I have a good stretch where I don't forget anything, and that makes me proud. Other times when my schedule gets thrown all out of whack, like it has been lately due to the holidays, I take a major step backwards and I forget just about everything. Here are a few examples over the past couple of days:

* I was supposed to work from home yesterday afternoon. I got everything packed up when it was time to leave, and left the one folder I really needed sitting on the table by my office door. Suffice it to say, I didn't finish what I needed to yesterday afternoon.

* I made a big fancy salad for dinner last night. I prepared it early so that I could watch Oprah without having to get up and start dinner. Then, after we were all done eating dinner I remembered that I had made a big fancy salad to go with our meal. Oops! Thankfully we had more than enough other food and weren't still hungry, but you would think that I'd remember making a salad that was supposed to be a big part of our dinner.

* I've been working on a crochet project for a co-worker's baby shower. I forgot where I was in a pattern and totally messed up a bunch of rows, costing me about thirty minutes worth of work. Grrr....

* I took pictures of said crochet projects, and some of my Christmas gifts, to post today and forgot to upload them, which would be necessary for, you know, posting them.

These are just a few examples of my annoying forgetfulness over the past couple of days. It's starting to really get on my nerves. I'm looking forward to when my schedule gets back on track after next week and then, hopefully, I'll start remembering things again.

TGCIO

(Thank God Christmas is Over - at least the celebrating, loud, tiring part)

It was, if you couldn't tell, a loud, tiring weekend. I had a great time, but was glad yesterday to be able to sit in my apartment and enjoy the total silence and not have someone pulling me somewhere to do something. But, it really was great - we had a lot of fun with my brother and his wife, we got to see my great-grandmother who has been in the hospital lately because of a bad fall and she was looking great, and everyone was happy the entire weekend.

My favorite gifts were an aquamarine necklace from Aaron (to match my engagement ring) and an ice cream maker attachment for my Kitchenaid from my parents. We're having home-made ice cream for New Years, and I can't wait.

I'm back at work right now, and it's 8:30 and I'm still the only one here. It's quiet and I should go so I can get some things done before everyone comes in and gets chatty. I hope you all had a holiday that was at least as happy and wonderful as mine!

The Christmas Tag of Joy

(Thanks to Julie for this one!)

1. Hot Chocolate or Egg Nog?
Um, anything but egg nog, so definitely hot chocolate. With a little peppermint schnapps in mine, thanks!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
For most of my life, Santa has wrapped the gifts he left under the tree, although I do remember one Christmas when I was very young that he just sat them under the tree. I don’t know why that changed, but it did.

3. Colored lights on the tree/house or white?
Colored lights all the way, babe. We have colored lights in all the windows, on our balcony (with red candy cane lights too) and on the tree.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Again, it’s something that was done when I was much younger, but we haven’t hung any in years.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Not until after Thanksgiving, definitely, but usually around the first week in December we start putting up decorations. We take our sweet time doing it though – this year it took 2 weeks to get everything up.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish?
We don’t have a traditional holiday meal, but when we have these two things, they’re my favorite: Ham and Cheesy Potatoes.

7. Favorite Holiday memory?
Hmmm…that’s a tough one. Probably, and this is corny, the year we got our Nintendo when I was a kid. My dad handed my brother and I each a small package to open. They were both Nintendo games, so we got excited thinking we were getting the gaming system, but then we noticed there were no other gifts under the tree.

“You can take them to your friends’ houses to play!” my dad exclaimed.

Well, as you can imagine, we were pretty bummed. Then, like magic somehow, there was one more box under the tree that we hadn’t seen before. It was our Nintendo. We spent the rest of the day in front of the television, playing our games, and fighting half-heartedly over whose turn it was. We couldn’t really fight because we were just so excited. The whole box appearing from nowhere made it seem like the most magical Christmas moment of my young life.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I honestly don’t remember. I don’t think it was a big deal to me ever.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?

Almost never. Gifts are for Christmas Day, silly! However, since we usually travel for Christmas Aaron and I typically exchange gifts before we leave so that we don’t have to cart everything with us and then back home again. I think our “Christmas” will be tomorrow morning before we head to my parents’ house.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?

I’m confused by this – in what order, or with what decorations? I’m going with what decorations. We have colored lights, silver tinsel garland, and tons of ornaments. Every year of his life Aaron’s grandmother has gotten him an ornament, and she gave them all to us the year we got married, so that makes up quite a few of our ornaments. We usually buy each other an ornament every year as a gift, and then of course, we have two of the ornaments that we gave out as favors at our wedding. I think our tree is beautiful.

11. Snow: Love it or Hate it?
I love it if I don’t have to drive in it. I wish we had some this year. This may be my first non-white Christmas ever. How sad is that?

12. Can you ice skate?
Depends on what you mean by ice skate. If you mean can I strap skates to my feet and skate around the edge of the rink while falling about every 3 minutes? Then yes, I can ice skate.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Well, my favorite gift from recent years was my KitchenAid Stand Mixer I got last year. It’s red to match all my other small appliances, and I use it all the time.

14. What’s the most important thing?
Spending time with my family, sharing good food, and of course, Jesus’ birth; those are definitely the most important things.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
It’s a tie between buche de noel (chocolate sponge cake rolled with chocolate whipped cream) and pecan pie.

16. ??? There was no 16

17. What tops your tree?
We have an angel that Aaron and I bought for our first Christmas together.

18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving?
While I don’t mind the receiving part, I love giving gifts and seeing how people react to them. I’m a very giving person, so it makes sense that the giving of gifts would be my favorite. However, I’m not a shopping person, so if I could just magically get the gifts I give to other people, it would be a perfect world.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
“What Christmas Means to Me” by Stevie Wonder is my favorite overall Christmas song, and “Oh, Come All Ye Faithful” has always been my favorite hymn on Christmas.

20. Candy canes: Yuck or Yum?
I usually eat about one per year. I also like to crush them and add them to hot cocoa. Other than that, I could probably live without them.

If you’re in the holiday mood consider yourself tagged. Happy Holidays to everyone!

Hypothetically

So, let's say, hypothetically of course, that you wake up in the morning to find your spouse finally asleep on the couch after he/she had been unwillingly awake for a large portion of the night (stupid insomnia). Let's say he/she is exhausted and crabby (due to exhaustion). Oh, and did he/she mention exhausted? Because he/she totally is.

Anyway, so let's say it's normally your job to make the coffee in the morning, while he/she normally sits in bed watching the Today show (and no, you're not allowed to voice your complaints about this; the news is important). Well, on this morning you're busy with other stuff, and you neglect to make the coffee, so you say to him/her (who is desperately in need of a caffeine IV), "I didn't make coffee this morning. That's not a big deal, is it?"

Hypothetically, would you expect to find yourself dead in the few moments after uttering those words? Because it's totally a big freaking deal. Did you miss the whole exhausted/crabby thing he/she had going on, or the words "I need major coffee" practically written on his/her forehead?

For the record, I would never kill Aaron. I don't even want him to ever feel an ounce of pain. But if I could somehow make him see the error of his ways quite clearly, it would be nice. I'm off to find that caffeine IV now.

Added Excitement to a Friday Night

Last Friday Aaron and I went to our favorite burger place for a late dinner, and came home around long after dark. We parked our car and started walking up to our door, when we heard a rustling noise in the bush to our right.

"There's something there," Aaron said.

I peeked around the bush and said, "I can see it!" Then the realization of what I was seeing hit me. "It's a skunk!" I screamed, "Run!"

So we ran back to the car, scaring the skunk in the process (we could tell by the smell), and then debated what to do. In the meantime, someone else walked out of the adjacent building.

"There's a skunk, right there!" we warned them. They, too, ran quickly to their car.

Well, the skunk wasn't going anywhere, and we couldn't stay in our car all night, so we decided to chance it. Our building is L-shaped and our door is on one leg of the L, and the skunk was on the sidewalk that runs along the other leg of the L. As we crept along the side of the building, staying as far away from the skunk as possible, a man and his three sons who live in our building came out our door.

"Skunk!" we yelled, because the baby was toddling right for it. The dad ran and grabbed his youngest, while the other two boys said, "Yeah, it's been around. It's either dying or pregnant. We've been throwing rocks at it to get it to go away." (They're such sweet kids, can't you tell?)

As they hurried to get to their car, we hurried into the building. But of course, we couldn't let that be the end of it. We had to watch the skunk to see if it was going to go away, and warn others who might be coming or going that it was there (it was the only nice thing to do since we had already caused it to spray - oops!).

When we got up to our apartment we headed for our balcony to watch it. Soon after the skunk flopped over and started convulsing. I was not happy beforehand that it was there, but now I was starting to feel bad for the poor thing. It was obviously not well. I headed in because I couldn't watch, but Aaron stayed outside watching it for a while, and of course he had to get a picture. We had both realized that we had never before seen a skunk in person, and so he wanted to document the occasion. Here's a link to the picture he took, which is understandably dark and blurry. I wouldn't have gone in for a better picture either.

The skunk was still there when we went to bed, and remained until after we woke up in the morning. A few minutes after we checked to see if it was still there, we heard our maintenance man walking around on the rocks. The skunk was still moving a little (only it's head and paws) but was most likely not a threat any more. We didn't watch to see what he did with it, but when we checked five minutes later it was gone. We were kind of sad, but it definitely needed to be taken care of before people started moving around again.

So that is how you add much excitement to an otherwise slow Friday night.

Holiday Preparation

Well, now that all of the anniversary nonsense is out of the way (although I do have to say, it was the best one yet, and I'll leave it at that), I can tell you about all my holiday preparations. This past weekend I baked up a storm. Just to whet your appetite, I made:

Rugelach,

Birds Nest Cookies,

Magical Mint Kiss Cookies,

and,

Lime Crinkles

I also made chocolate/peanut butter fudge, baked a key lime pie (thanks TB! It was amazingly delicious!), got about 80% of my Christmas shopping done, and wrote out all of our Christmas cards. It was quite the productive weekend, if I do say so myself.

Actually, I kind of feel worn out just writing about it, so I think I'm going to call this a post and leave you with just one more anniversary related thing. Look what Aaron surprised me with last night:

Isn't he the sweetest?

Two Years

Happy Anniversary Babe! Thanks for two wonderful years of marriage, and for continuously making me smile.

(Aaron trying, and succeeding, to get a whole lime cookie in his mouth.)

I can't imagine my life without you, and wouldn't want to anyway. I love you with 110% of my heart!

Blog Crush Day!

OMG! I almost forgot that today is Blog Crush Day!

I have many blog crushes, too many to name for Blog Crush day. I feel I would be breaking the rules if I named all of them, and it was hard to narrow it down to just one, but I managed to figure out my most major blog crush. I don't mean to hurt anyone's feelings, because there are many people who I read every day and my day wouldn't be the same without them (Kelley, Audrey, Sizzle, and TB, I'm looking at you, just to name a few!)

My most major blog crush is on Deb from Smitten Kitchen. I have a huge blog crush on her because she lives the life I would love to live, save for the broken collarbone, because, ouch! She lives in NYC, has access to all kinds of exotic ingredients, cooks wonderful food all the time, and seems to have all kinds of dinner parties to go to, which I never have, and so basically I have a blog crush on her because I'm jealous.

But whatever, she cooks good food and posts beautiful pictures of it, which in turn inspires me to cook good food more regularly. Oh, yeah, the pictures! She takes much better, more appetizing, pictures of food than I do. Basically, I would like to meet her, and then have her cook me dinner. I would cook her dinner, but am afraid that I would not cook up to her standards.

Deb! You rock! I would totally want to be your friend if I lived in New York, and you weren't scared of people who are slightly stalkerish due to your wonderful web site. Just slightly, though. I promise.

Never a Dull Moment Around Here, Part III

Well, it has happened again. Someone was shot at the apartment complex across the street from our complex at five o'clock this morning, and apparently the police have swarmed the area. Who knows what happened; the news didn't give many details yet. I'm sure I'll hear more about it on the evening news. I didn't hear the shots or any sirens. I'm a sound sleeper, having become that way while I lived across the street from a fraternity house for many years.

It's so weird. We really don't live in a bad area. We live in a popular suburb of a small urban area. People have been moving here in droves in recent years because of the good schools and small community feel. But the part of town I live in directly borders the larger city and the crime is spreading this way. It's a little scary. Aaron called to tell me that there was something going on out there, and that I should take our can of PAM out there and spray any strange person that came near me, since we have no mace or pepper spray (if you get that reference you get a cookie).

I'll update if I hear more, but yes. Definitely a shooting, definitely less than a 1/4 mile away from my front door (again) and I'm definitely a smaller town girl because this is just too much for me. I want to move back to my home town so bad lately. Literally nothing like this ever happens there. (Well, that's not entirely true, someone did accidentally shoot themselves in the mouth a couple of weeks ago, but that's more stupidity than a crime.)

UPDATE:

Here's a cut and paste from the local news - Deputies tell News Ten an 18-year old woman was killed and another person was injured. The shootings happened around 4:30 Friday morning. Deputies are now looking for a man named Jeffrey Husband. They say he's a person of interest and would like to talk to him

So at least it sounds like it wasn't random, which always settles me a little bit.

It Went Very Well

The party is over, and I am exhausted, but it went very well, so at least I'm happily exhausted. We talked, laughed, ate a ton, and then talked and laughed some more. My house was empty before 7:00 (the party started at 3:00), so there was still time to relax (read: fall into a coma at around 8:00).

I finally got to make a recipe I'd been wanting to try for a while, Chocolate Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars, and they turned out wonderfully. It was the first seasonal baking I've done so far and it really helped my mood (well, the absolute deliciousness helped my mood too). I'm now ready to pump Christmas carols through our speakers while covering myself in flour and doing seemingly endless loads of dishes in order to get all my Christmas baking done. Apparently my dad has baked about a dozen different kinds of cookies so far, so I predict I gain five pounds before the new year.

I'm still not ready to go out and buy gifts for everyone, but that's mostly because I hate shopping any time of year and this time of year is the worst. People might seriously be getting a dozen cookies and a $20 bill. I know I wouldn't mind that as a gift, so I hope they like it too.

Speaking of homemade gifts, when we were up at my parents' house late last month, my mom made homemade limoncello which should be ready to drink this weekend. She sent us home with a jar, and it's sitting in our refridgerator looking yellow and lemony, and I can't wait to try it. We mix it with a little soda water over ice, and it's one of the most delicious cocktails I've ever tried. Well, at least with store-bought limoncello. I can't wait to see how this batch turned out, and if it did turn out, I know what people may be getting for Christmas next year.

Aaron Makes Me Laugh

Last night while cleaning our apartment and getting ready for the party tonight, Aaron was organizing our CDs; something that really needed to be done. He was going through each case to make sure the correct CD was in the correct case and that there were no extras. (In sad news, we're still missing my Keith Urban CD, and I am very sad about that.)

Anyway, as he was going through he opened one, and said, in falsetto, "I Hate Bush!" Then he closed the case and said in his normal, yet slightly surprised voice, "Well, that was unexpected!"

I looked over to see what the heck he was doing, and he had a Dixie Chicks CD in his hand, which made me basically fall over with laughter.

(As an aside, it would sound like I'm a country music fan, which I'm really not. I'm more of a rock'n'roll kind of girl, but aparently it's the country CDs I own that cause all the trouble.)

Because I didn't already have enough stress in my life...

I'm hosting my work holiday party tomorrow night. I just found out today; two hours ago, technically. The woman who was supposed to have the party at her house had to cancel because her house is quarantined. Crazy, no?

I have a lot of cleaning and prep work to do tonight. Wish me luck!

Category 9 Freak-Out

Sorry for yesterday's rambling post. I wasn't having the best of days, that's for certain. I don't know what was causing it, but it seemed that a lot of things came together all at once (realizing Christmas was only two weeks away, having to go to work, life, etc.) and I had a major freak out. I worked all morning, then ran an errand at lunch and decided I couldn't take it any more, so I went home for the afternoon. I had four personal hours to use in the next couple of weeks anyway, so it's all good.

At home I played computer games, watched Top Chef re-runs, and did a couple of loads of laundry. I thought I was doing much better, but then I felt like crying because Aaron didn't like the recipe I tried for dinner. Then my laundry was done, and I actually did cry because I didn't want to fold it. Then I cried harder because I felt bad that Aaron had to deal with me crying for such a stupid reason. I'm sure I was a bundle of fun to be around.

I don't know if it's hormones, my seasonal depression (that would be an early start this year), or stress, but I'm still not feeling like myself. I'm not excited for Christmas at all. I'm excited to spend time with my family, but not excited about the actual holiday. We haven't even put ornaments on the tree, although we have decorated everything else. I've been listening to all my Christmas CDs, but they haven't been able to get me in the holiday mood. I haven't started baking yet, when usually by this time my freezer is stocked with at least a few dozen cookies. I just feel off this year.

So, I'm starting to bake tonight. I'm also finishing up my one homemade present so I can get that mailed out. Maybe if I start doing things for the holiday I'll start getting more in to it. At least that's what I'm hoping will happen.

My Weekend in Three Parts

Part the First:

Quickest way to ruin a Saturday = not sleeping Friday night (not by choice, stupid alcohol-induced insomnia) and then reminding your husband every five minutes that you're really exhausted, all the while refusing to take a nap because, "what if it happens again tonight?"

It didn't.

Part the Second:

We haven't done any Christmas shopping yet. We decided to go get it all done yesterday. So we went to one store that's having a big moving sale, and I bought my mom a birthday present (her birthday is Thursday). Then we went to Bed Bath and Beyond because we need a humidifier. We didn't find one we wanted, nor did we find the one Christmas present we knew we wanted to buy there, and it was really freaking crowded, which we can't handle, so we went home instead of doing any shopping.

On Saturday we had watched the first to episodes of the HBO show, Rome. I really liked it a lot, and thought, "hey, that might be a good present for someone. My brother likes history type stuff, maybe he'd like it." But then I thought about all the sex and nudity, and even though my brother is a married adult, I still can't deal with those facts, and so I'm not buying him a DVD set full of sex and nudity. It would just be too weird.

So, yes. Still no Christmas shopping done. And! I need to get all my out-of-state presents mailed this week, so I'm headed to the mall tonight. If you hear a news story about some woman in Michigan who went crazy dealing with mall crowds and killed them all? Pray for me. Or send bail money. I seriously can't handle crowds.

Part the Third:

We rearranged our bedroom yesterday afternoon. It's now basically the mirror image of what it was before. Exciting, no? Well, it was the biggest thing we accomplished all weekend, because we are lazy, and were also tired (see part the first).

You're jealous of the excitement that is my life. I can tell.

Phoning It In

So, today is the first of three work holiday parties at my place of employment. It's all Holiday Craziness around here. People are decorating their office doors (I made a paper Christmas tree with paper lights and glittery paper ornaments), and the refrigerators are full of yummy looking food. I can't wait for the party to start (I still have 2.5 hours to wait).

I'm making sweets for the other parties, so I decided to make an appetizer for today's party instead. It's Aaron's favorite appetizer, and he learned to make it in home ec. in high school. The recipe is called "Mexican Willies", but I prefer a less phallic title, so I call them "Mexican Tortilla Roll-Ups".

And since I know many of us have lots of Holiday Parties to attend, and since many may need to bring something to these parties, I thought I'd share the recipe today. It's super simple, and delicious, makes a ton, and I rarely have left-overs. Here goes:

Mexican Tortilla Roll-Ups

8 burrito-sized tortillas
2 8 oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 can chopped green chilis, drained
6 to 8 oz. salsa (I use 4 oz regular salsa and 4 oz. salsa verde)
3 green onions, chopped
8 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded

Mix all ingredients together except tortillas. Once it's well mixed, spread the mixture on one side of each tortilla and roll them up. (Once I roll them I usually press down to make sure that the filling goes all the way to the edge.) Chill overnight, then slice into 1 inch pieces.

Voila! You're done. So super easy, right? Hope you like them!

Right-er?

Aaron and I have an ongoing argument about a suffix. Yes, we're that dorky, and we're okay with it.

Anyway, he is pretty much against the use of the suffix "-er". He thinks instead of smaller, it should be more small. It shouldn't be lighter, it should be more light. I disagree, and throw smallers and lighters, and heck, even a few neaters liberally into my speaking.

I understand that there are a few times that "-er" is not to be used. Nothing is ever "funner" it is definitely more fun, and if you say funner in all seriousness? I may sigh in exasperation because it sounds so horrible. And I know it's not "righter" as the title of this post suggests. I'd throw a sigh and an eye roll at that one if I heard it. But Aaron never wants to use the "-er" suffix if he can help it. And he corrects me regularly even in those instances when I am right and can use "-er" if I damn well please.

(On a completely different note, I am out of ideas on what to post this week. What, you couldn't tell? Also could you not tell that we had a long discussion about suffixes last night? Thus (almost) ends one of the most boring posts I have ever written.)

On yet ANOTHER completely unrelated note, I couldn't be more sad (or even sadder) about this. That poor family. Such a tragedy. Keep them in your thoughts, or prayers if you're so inclined. I can't imagine going through all that they've been through in the last two weeks.

6 Weird Things About Me

"According to the rules...Each player of this game starts with the "6 Weird Things about You." People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says 'you are tagged' in their comments and tell them to read your blog!"

I was tagged by CPA mom for this meme, which I've been seeing all over, and which has resulted in some fun information about some of my favorite bloggers.

Hmmm...this is hard, and I'm busy, so I'm going to have to update throughout the day.

Weird Thing About Me #1: I have no ear lobes. That's right, you heard me. I have no ear lobes. Aaron tells me it's because I'm streamlined, and I reply well if the no ear lobes thing makes me faster (less wind resistance, you know) then I'd hate to see how slow I would be if I had ear lobes. But I don't. My ears just connect straight to my head with no hangy down part. My sister loves to make fun of me for this. I make fun of her for many reasons, so it's only fair that I have one semi-flaw she can pick on, I guess.

Also "ear lobes" is one of those things that if you type it enough it starts to look wrong.

Weird Thing About Me #2: I didn't have a middle name until I was 25. When I got married I took my maiden name as my middle name, so now I do have one, and I was very excited because now I can have cool looking monograms on things (not that I've gotten anything monogrammed since I was married, but I could if I wanted to, and that's the point). When I was little, other kids didn't believe I didn't have a middle name, and they thought I was just hiding a really bad one. Also many people have made up middle names for me. I had one friend who called me Jessie Marie for years. My brother and sister don't have middle names either and people have made up middle names for them too. Apparently there are lots of people out there who think a middle name is a must. My mom doesn't have a middle name and insists it's because she was 6 of 8 kids and my grandmother got lazy around then and just forgot to give her one.

Yes, I have a whole "middle name" saga. It's already gotten too long. Also this list seems to be, so far, things I don't have.

Weird Thing About Me #3: I'm allergic to beer. People who like beer think this is a great tragedy. Aaron likes it because it means more beer for him. There are plenty of other things to drink, so I'm okay with the whole "not being able to drink beer" thing. With other alcohol I just break out in a rash on my face and chest during the first drink, but it goes away soon after (I'm thinking maybe I'm allergic to all alcohol, and it's just worse for beer, but I'm not giving up drinking, and you can't make me). With beer, if I drink about half a can I throw up. I actually like the taste of beer, but it has never failed that when I try to drink it, it doesn't stay down. Strangely, I have an uncle that has the same affliction, and he says it's "hops intolerance". So, okay, I guess I'm just allergic to the hops.

Weird Thing About Me #4: I can't pee if someone else is in the room. This goes for public restrooms too. I have a "shy bladder" apparently, and no matter how much I want to go, I just can't. Unless, of course, I'm in a packed restroom and no one can tell it's me going, and then I have no problem at all.

This is a big problem at work because I especially can't go if someone I know is in the room or can possibly hear. However, at home, if Aaron can hear I don't mind. We do keep the doors closed, though, so he's never in the room when I'm going.

Weird Thing About Me #5: One of my pupils is oval-shaped. You're pupils aren't supposed to be oval shaped, let alone only one of them. This concerned the optamologist the last time I went in, so she dialated my eyes. Here's a helpful hint. Don't go to an optamologist's office 30 minutes away from your house by yourself, during the day when your husband is over an hour away at work. It's not a fun drive home, and my eyes were dialated for hours, so it's not like I could have waited it out. Thankfully I made it home before the worst of it. Not-so-thankfully, I had forgotten my sunglasses that day so they gave me those oh-so-stylish paper ones and I gave myself a paper cut on my ear while putting them on.

One more to go, and I can't think of anything right now. I promise I'll think of something before the end of the work day, though.

Weird Thing About Me #6: Okay, my one co-worker who knows about this gives me crap for it, and it is really weird, I admit, but here goes: I eat McDonald's for lunch once a month, on the day I'm supposed to get my period. Sorry if that's TMI, but it's true. I don't know why or when this started, but now it's become a ritual and I have to do it. It weirds Aaron out too, mostly because he can't stand McDonalds food and can't believe I eat there.

So, there they are. Six weird things about me. Can you handle it? Are you going to run away now? Am I as weird as Aaron tells me I am (he says he loves all my quirks almost as much as he loves me)?

Good to Know

Tis the season for Work Christmas Parties.

Mine is coming up next Wednesday, and I'm on the planning committee so I've been busy. I have to make an ornament for the ornament exchange, bake a dessert or cook an appetizer, and get together some decorations and Christmas CDs.

I was telling Aaron about that, when he responded, "Oh, yeah! I forgot! My work party is next week too, and I said you'd bake a dessert for it."

"Am I invited?" I asked.

"No, it's during work and just for people who work there."

Okay, then. Good to know.

Updated: I was wrong. I am invited, Aaron just thought that since it was during the work day I would be unable to attend (he was right). I do still get to bake something though.

Things I'm In Love With Today

(Freaking Winter Edition)

1. Big, fluffy, warm duvets
2. Hot showers
3. Hot coffee
4. Warm gloves
5. Winter hats
6. Scarves
7. Heated seats (my love for the heated seats is boundless, for they are wonderful)
8. Cars that heat up fast
9. Warm Sweaters
10. Wool Socks

So, um, yes. It's cold here today. Like, 20 degrees with a wind chill in the single digits cold. Like, my skin is about to crack and fall off because the air is so dry cold.

Really, freaking cold.

And I'm loving it. I love to be all covered up by warm clothes, feeling snuggly all day long. I love drinking hot drinks; coffee, tea, cocoa, I love them all. The only thing I'm missing today is a fireplace to sit in front of with a good book and an old quilt. Days like today make me feel like being cozy at home with nothing to do. Also, soup. I love soup.

Christmas is in the Air

On Wednesday night Aaron came in the door after work and handed me a birthday present. He hadn't even read my whiny post about no one doing anything for me for my birthday, he just did it on his own. What a guy. I definitely deserve a kick in the ass after all that whining, but I got presents instead.

Nothing big, of course, but something about which I'm excited. I love all things Christmas, but there are three things about Christmas I especially love: 1) Christmas music, 2) Christmas baking, and 3) Christmas movies. Well, Aaron got me 2 DVDs for my birthday - the Santa Clause and the Santa Clause 2.

I haven't seen the second one yet, and can't wait to watch it, but haven't had a chance yet. I was planning on watching it tonight, but then I saw that The Polar Express is going to be on ABC tonight, and I'd love to watch that too. We're going to have to stay up late and watch SC2 after the Polar Express. Can you imagine how thrilled Aaron will be about this?

I do know one way to get him in the Christmas mood though. I'm buying a small bottle of peppermint schnapps on the way home to put in some hot chocolate. We already have the whipped cream at home. He'll do pretty much anything for the three of those combined. So will I.

We're also putting up our tree tonight, so I'll get to listen to some of my Christmas cds while we're doing that. It sounds like it's going to be a very Christmas-y night.

I can't wait!