Let me tell you about the dream I had the other night. (You have to realize that this was after my self-esteem had been crushed by BS regarding the whole "iPod download - this is how it works - stop asking me questions - just listen - let me explain" rants.) We were at tkd testing. Camron didn't have his uniform on. When I asked him why, he told me that it was too big and kept falling off and that he was going to do make-up testing. I practiced out on the floor. There were a gazillion people there that were going to test and barely any of them had uniforms on and I couldn't understand why. Mike C. was there - in a suit that was ripped at both shoulder seams. He said he knew he shouldn't have been wearing a suit when he practiced his form. They called me out on the floor and then they called Shawn. I was confused as to why we weren't in order. I couldn't find Painter Jeff. Sherri Carter kept putting her arm around me and telling me it would be okay. There were so many people on the floor that we could barely move to do our forms. One of the judges (just some random dream character) was really mean and he and "Yes Sir" were having some sort of verbal disagreement and he told her she couldn't test. When it came time to do my form, I kept screwing up the last move (if anyone remembers, the knee strike was the move that I screwed up 2 times the last time we did blue belt form at testing which made me end up facing the wrong direction at the end.) I asked to do it again even though I knew everyone would be mad (this was probably from CTP's threats last testing that no one had better ask to do their form again.) As I was doing my form, I had my class attendance card in my hand and knew the judges wouldn't be able to see that I was doing a knifehand because I was holding the card. Also, my gum was disintegrating and I couldn't get it all out of my mouth. Anyone care to analyze????????

Ah, here it is - the Christmas morning picture. Before one present gets opened, before one stocking gets peeked into, the cherubs know they have to sit down in front of the tree and smile. We tried to convince them that we had instituted a new tradition this year and that they each had to sing a Christmas carol before coming down the steps - they weren't going for it.

Big Sexy bought me 500 Best Western shower caps off of eBay. That was pretty hilarious. He used to travel all the time at his old job and would always bring me back his shower caps (sometimes I'd get Phil's and Brandon's too - when they all traveled together). Since he started his new job, he hasn't traveled and my stash of shower caps died out long ago. I've been getting the 3 pack from Wal-Mart, but really, who wants to spend money, no matter how small the amount, on shower caps? I use 'em until, apparently, Dave thinks they're really grody. Anyway, I'm set for awhile now....

He also bought me an iPod. I think he's regretting it because I'm as dumb as a box of rocks when it comes to all things electronic. I'm driving him crazy..... Unfortunately, or fortunately - depending on how you look at it, I haven't been able to use it yet because I guess I have freakishly small ears and the dang ear buds won't stay in!

The other "princess" of the family had requested a "wedding dress" for Christmas. I found this little number on eBay for a STEAL! When she opened the box and lifted off the tissue paper she said, "My wedding dress..." and then hugged it to her. The four red roses were the icing on the cake - if she ever had a doubt in her mind before (which I'm sure she didn't), now she knows I'm the bomb! She also thinks Lori's the bomb - she brings Savannah gum :)

Here we have the boys opening their gift from Meem & Beeb. Nothing quite says the birth of Jesus like a deadly weapon! They were completely surprised and had absolutely NO idea they were getting a rifle. Needless to say, today we were down on the farm massacring dinosaur targets and water bottles. We had a great time!

Instead of our usual "trading of names for the grown-ups" - this year we all went out and got a bunch of grab bag gifts and played the number game. We were stealing each others' gifts and Ryan and Steve got into it over a tin of popcorn. Also, nothing says the birth of Jesus like stealing gifts from your family members..... One of Camron's gifts was safety goggles. Here's Ry modeling them for us:

Here's Lori and one of HER grab bag gifts:

Here's Buck with his Christmas vulture:

And here, we have the three brave souls who married into my family. God bless 'em. Check out all of their hats...... Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen Jesse without a hat on..... hmmmm, interesting.

We finished out the evening with a nice family game of "Spoons" around the dining room table. No blood was shed, though there were some minor skirmishes. As Lori so wisely stated, "If you get in a battle over a spoon, you want to make sure you have the fat end." And that, my friends, is advice that we can all use!

5 Random Thoughts

1. SC had such a look of disgust on her face while watching A.M. "jab and punch" the other night at tkd that I had to stop looking at her in the mirror before I busted out laughing. (And, yes, I know that "busted" is not proper English.)

2. I need to find "4 red roses" to go with Savannah's "wedding" ensemble that she requested for Christmas. They were $4 each at Michael's - not happening. I guess I'll be running out to World of Values tomorrow.... unless one of you happens to have 4 red roses lying around.

3. It's FREAKING cold outside.

4. Dave and I watched "While You Were Sleeping" the other night. Every year, around Christmas/New Year's, we watch this movie. It's one of my favorites.

5. I cheated on you all last night. I'm sorry. BS and I had dinner at Robokyo with Phil and Brandon. These three have worked together in some way for the past 15 years or so and every year we go out for a Christmas celebration. The past two years we've gone downtown to Ruth's Chris - I think we'll have to go back to that next year :) Here's a picture of the 3 of them at Red Star (where we went for dessert.)

Phil - Dave - Brandon

Notice that they all share the same hairstyle - they were a little close to the hibachi when the giant flame shot up. Does anyone care to venture a guess as to why Phil and Dave were carefully checked by security right after 9/11???

A great time was had by all at the Gorr's Christmas party on Saturday night. Just look at all of the happy faces!

There was even entertainment........ beyond the deep, meaningful conversations that usually take place at these gatherings.

Here's the picture that goes with the discussion of Leslie's shirt buttons. Kim and I seem very engrossed with Leslie's chest buttons. Wait, that's not right either. I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.

Kim's fancy livingroom was very happy to have some people visiting in it. The "softball people" were in with the Burger Meister ornament tree, but WE got to hang out with baby Jesus and the scary moving Santa!!!!! We also got to see where Kim keeps her wrapping paper. (Sorry, Kim, Dave made me post it.....)

And, finally, some video of those deep conversations that were mentioned earlier.... Here's Shawn confessing that he's not usually in on the "grown-up" conversations:

And here is the "Carter" discussion along with BS trying to make Curt's "Grrrrr" noise:

A couple of nights ago, the cherubs decided that it would be a good idea to put up the Christmas tree. The muscle of the Bartholomew clan dug the tree box out from under the basement stairs and lugged it up to the living room. The trusty directions were pulled out of the proper file folder and...... the boys did all of the work! They separated the branches by tip color and put them all in place. There wasn't even a squabble. I'm sure Santa is so proud and is putting their names on the "Nice" list. Later that evening, BS put the lights on the tree. That's his Christmas decorating contribution. That all occurred on Saturday. We finally got around to decorating the tree this evening. Dave and I carried the boxes upstairs, and again, the boys did all of the work while we took pictures.

Camron unwrapped all of his past Christmas creations and set them up on the coffee table. He set up the Nativity scene.... I wonder if I could talk one of the boys into hanging all of the garland around the windows and up the stairs????? I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be doing that this year - bah humbug! (Please don't hate me Christmas Queen Kim :)

In other news, my boys have booked their first child-sitting job (no children will be sat on during the course of the evening....I hope....) I had never even considered that that would be something they could do; after all, they are MY babies. I am very honored that ES and SB believe that my boys are capable of looking after their boys. Ryan's only concerns when I presented him with this proposition were: "Will there be pizza?" and "Can everyone go to the bathroom by themselves?" I have assured him that since Jimmy will be with Wendi, everyone left at the house will be capable of handling their own bathroom situations......

Happy 14th Birthday, Ryan!!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Jimmy earned a new patch for his Eaglescout uniform today. He successfully completed all of the requirements needed to obtain the "Delivering Crutches to the Gimpy and Infirm" patch. I'm so very proud of Jimmy! Seriously though, you're a gem ES - thanks a ton for dropping those off for me :) And thank Emma for me too, would ya? BS bought me these way awesome boots this past weekend. He said that they're not even for Christmas or anything! I'll consider them my teacher salary for the past 4 months. Aren't they cute?

Instead of those very cute boots, however, I'm wearing this sexy number......

Don't be jealous now. After I'm done with it, I'll share it if anyone wants to use it. I kept it on all night last night during tkd so that no one would run off with it. I can see where one might be tempted.............

Hey, ES, what did you find out about the whole testing/board holder situation???? Any news????

Thanksgiving - A Funeral Home Visit - And My Toe

My very strange family gathered today, Sunday, to celebrate Thanksgiving at my mom & dad's house. I know, I know, THURSDAY was Thanksgiving, but, in order to make my sister's life easier - meaning, she wouldn't have to run around on Thanksgiving Day and stuff herself with two meals in succession - we switched it to today. Also, my youngest sister, Lori, could drive in from Ohio today to eat with us. My mom made lasagna on the REAL Thanksgiving Day!!!! We're real rule-breakers!! Here's some of the crew watching Looney Tunes prior to dinner. The rest of us were in the kitchen tripping over each other.

Here's Steve doing a great job watching the noodles boil. Way to go, Steve! They were very yummy. I think you have a true gift.

Here we have my not-so-brilliant-at-this-particular-moment-in-time nephew STUCK between the rails of the bed in the spare room. He was supposed to be sitting on the bed for a time out, but decided to see if he could slide between the rails. Apparently, he could not. His father did eventually help him out..... after he came downstairs and told us all about it, laughed, and took this picture!


Here's Buck, pleading with Ryan, "Please pet me. I want to hang out with the family. I'm already pushing my limits and am sitting in the living room. I know I'm not allowed on the carpet here. Don't tell Beeb, Ryan. Just pet me and it'll all be good."

Here's Buck doing some more pleading, "Um, Dad, I'm sitting right here at your feet. By your side. Your trusty companion. Do you feel my nose pushing between your knee and the cupboard? Do you need help getting rid of that turkey slime? I could take care of that for you."

And, some more Buck. He's under the impression that he's a lap dog!

In other news, my 92 year old great uncle passed away on Friday, so we spent this evening doing the funeral home thing. Funeral homes aren't fun - and that's enough about that.

After we left the funeral home, Dave decided that he had had enough of my hobbling around the past two weeks and he drove me to Med Express. They did an x-ray and.... the toe is broken folks! Broken. The whole way across. When I do something I like to do it right and all. The doctor seemed a bit shocked that I'd been walking around for two weeks on it. I got a really nasty-looking foot thingie to wear. I think I'm going to have Camron add some "flair" to it with a glue gun and some gems!

Kim's Christmas List

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper
2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial. We used to always do real, which I prefer, but it's too much of a pain.
3. When do you put up the tree? Anytime after Ryan's birthday, which is the 3rd.
4. When do you take them down? December 31st-ish
5. When do you start listening to Christmas carols? Whenever I think - and am in the mood - to go and dig out the Christmas CDs
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I can barely remember what happened yesterday!
7. Hardest person to buy for? Everyone's hard to buy for anymore
8. Easiest person to buy for? See previous answer
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I'm sure there have been a few.... but, I can't remember.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Christmas Vacation
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? sometimes in November, sometimes December
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? ham
16. Lights on the tree? Yep
17. Favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night - it depends on who's singing it though
18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? Home in the morning, we go to my mom's in the afternoon
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes - and spell 'em too
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? star
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? all of the people at the stores
23. What theme or color are you using? Um, Christmas-y stuff
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Ham and beans at my mom's
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? a cruise - in June :)
26. Favorite Christmas special? the boys won't watch anything Rudolph-y anymore - we do watch Christmas Vacation and Elf together - does that count?
27. Favorite holiday tradition? making Christmas crafts with Camron, taking the boys' picture in front of the tree on Christmas morning, and, my most recent favorite tradition..... the boys putting the tree up and decorating it :)
28. Does Christmas mean Santa or Christ's birth to you? both - even though the boys don't believe in "Santa" anymore
29. Do you go to Church on Christmas? Christmas Eve? We used to go on Christmas Eve. Now it's always just the choir putting on a cantata, so we opt out. Whatever happend to a few Christmas songs and reading the story of Christ's birth from the Bible?????????
30. Midnight Mass or Day? see above answer
31. Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays? Merry Christmas
32. Do you wear Christmas sweat shirts or sweaters? No - but I do have jammies with reindeer on them AND I have a Santa's helper outfit!
33. Do you put up outside lights? No

Happy Anniversary to SC and CTP!!! :)

WARNING!!!!!!!

The persons depicted in the photos below are all way cool.

I've never been part of the "cool" crowd before............... I guess some things never change!!! Just kidding - I love you guys!!!! :) And, LL, I don't have any recent pictures of you - how can this be????? I have the picture from ages ago at Cozumel's. You and BS need to start being in more pictures - you two are always the picture takers! Send me a new one and I'll put it on here :)

Tonight, I hobbled down to the basement and worked out with Big Sexy for the first time in forever. We used to go to the gym every single evening; then the boys started tkd and that totally messed up our schedule. And then, as BS would say, I sold my soul to tkd and have been getting weak and flabby ever since - although, now I can kick him in the head when he says that! I'm determined to keep it up, but sometimes it's just so hard. After all, it's a lot easier to sit on the couch and watch tv snuggled under a blanket than it is to lift weights. What's even sadder is how weak you get if you don't keep up with it. I used to squat more than I weigh - ha! If I tried that now I'd be looking at a hernia for sure!

I want to scrapbook but am having trouble getting started. Anybody up for a scrapbook evening?????

Today was a crazy day weather-wise. One minute it was sunny, the next it was sunny and snowing, and the next it was dark, dreary and snowing a LOT. Luckily, none of it has really stuck. Unluckily, it's still freakin' cold outside and there is more winter to come. I cannot express quite strongly enough how much I HATE winter. I hate the cold, I hate the wind - the piercing, biting, bitter wind -, I hate the snow, I hate the dirty snow, I hate how nasty cars look from driving in the slushy, dirty snow, I hate that the trees don't have any leaves and look all pathetic and cold, I hate that it's pitch black outside at 4:30. I believe I suffer from seasonal affective disorder/winter depression. I firmly believe that I should move somewhere tropical each winter to combat this issue :) Seriously......

I'm pretty sure that I finally - completely - broke my toe at taekwondo last night. It hasn't been right since I front kicked that board for pre-testing 2-ish cycles ago. I suppose there's no point in going and having it x-rayed as they'll just tape it up, right????? It's a lovely light purplish/green color and all swollen. I'm limping and hopping around - but I'll probably go to class on Thursday anyway...... :)

The kids' Christmas present has arrived a month and a half early. Meet "Big Bertha".

Not only does she have the awesome ice/water hickey on the front, but she also required some home renovation to be done before she'd fit in the kitchen. Out of the 50 refrigerators at Lowe's, only one - and it was an UGLY one at that - refrigerator would have fit under the cupboards that were hanging on the wall. Big Sexy chopped the cupboards off the wall. Of course, then he had to go to Sears to buy a circular hand saw to cut the cupboards down to the right size. After the cupboards were resized, the cupboard doors needed to be resized. This required a fourth trip to Lowe's to by the proper router bit so that the cupboard doors could be reshaped properly. After a weekend of tireless effort on BS's part, the cupboards are now done and rehung! He's so awesome!

Of course, now we have to paint them, and the kitchen walls, and while we're at it, we may as well redo the ridiculously ugly floor, and put a backsplash on the wall by the stove, and buy an above-the-stove microwave....... It never ends......

And finally, to put us all in the mood for Christmas..............

Answers to Wendi's Friday Fill-ins

1. Please feel free to come to my house and fix the cabinets that previously resided over my refrigerator - the one that died. After you've scaled them down to fit above Big Bertha, please rehang them in the gaping, empty space on the wall. Oh, and if you want to paint the kitchen, that'd be nice too................

2. When I buy a new book, I can't help sniffing it occasionally.

3. My favorite thing to cook is - I don't cook :)

4. Spending time with my family is something I can't get enough of (except when I've had enough - you all know what I mean!!!!)

5. He makes me laugh, he rubs my feet, and he watched 2 Dr. Quinn episodes with me, That's the thing I love most about Dave tonight.

6. Watching some people doing their form always makes me think to myself, what the heck!!!!!!!!!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to taking a shower and going to bed, tomorrow my plans include giving my boys a big hug when they get home from their sleepover at Meem & Beeb's house, and Sunday, I want to relax and get my school stuff ready for Monday!

Before you continue on reading this post, let it be said that the lighting in the Garden Center is bad, awful, appalling, atrocious, terrible, horrible, and dreadful :) You couldn't get a good, quality, properly colored picture in that place if your life depended on it! Anyway..... here are some shots from last night:

A pep talk from one of my peeps....

Mini-Eaglescout

Look at the intense concentration and proper form!

If we could read Kim's thoughts during testing.....

Ryan and Jeff - gettin' it done!

A very ball$y board break by Mr. P.

I wanna be just like him when I grow up!

Jimmy, Ryan and Camron all successfully

met their mid-term requirements!

Oh, and Camron has a wedgie.

Some of the crew. Wendi & I look a little bit like

Christmas with our new belts!

Great job last night, everybody! Let's do it again in January!

My sister called me a few weeks ago with a slight problem. Apparently, she was unable to figure out how to be in two places at once. Levi had a Halloween parade at his school and Savannah had her preschool "unmasking" - where the teacher calls each of the kids up and makes a big "to do" over their outfits - at the same time. So..... I got to be the "mom" of a little girl yesterday! And not just ANY little girl, but a "Snow Princess." She's just too cute :)

Then, last night, I got to go trick-or-treating with the Snow Princess and her Ninja-brother around my neighborhood. They made out with a packed Wal-Mart bag full of candy.... each. Their father couldn't wait to get them home and in bed so he could raid the candy bags - nice, Steve.

This afternoon, some of Jimmy's friends came over to help us chop wood.

Their facial expressions were cracking me up!!!! They're really quite normal looking children. See.

I talked with SC on Sunday - while I was in the process of washing mountainous loads of clothing - and she informed me that plans are being made for a trip to "Penn Hills" (am I correct in assuming that this is Wendi's code name for the place we are going????) She also informed me that I was the only one not cool enough to attend tkd on Saturday morning :( I have a good excuse - other than the fact that I've only ever been to ONE Saturday morning tkd class - and that is that my family, my sister's family, and my mom & dad drove to Ohio to visit my other sister, Lori (not the Lori that comments on my blog though.) Here we are, standing nice and still and not poking each other or giving each other wet-willys long enough for my mom and Dave to have a photo shoot. This is one of the better pictures. I have a bunch of one or more of us in various stages of speaking, pointing, or making a weird face. I have some with 2 of us looking one way and the other one (Danielle) looking the other way - granted, there were two cameras and our photographers were not very clear on who was shooting when...... We're lucky we came up with this picture considering the subjects being photographed :)
In other not so exciting news, Dave went with us to tkd tonight. He decided to take Pixel with him and document the evening. This is Pixel.

He's my/our new Canon Rebel camera. Happy Anniversary to us :) Anyway, Shawn taught, so we all left class sweaty messes. Below are some shots of some of the ways he chose to torture us this evening.

You think they're nothing but innocent pride crushing caterpillars, but they're not! No these caterpillars involve a push-up as well. You can't tell me that Shawn doesn't enjoy this. Just look at his face! He's laughing (not that I blame him.....)

We did sit-ups.... both ways.

Ah, one of my least favorites. The balancing of the pad while doing round kicks. These suckers kill my hip/side butt area. Later we had to do push ups for each pad that fell.... we weren't warned about that little tidbit until after the drill was over.

We round kicked the pads.

We practiced our board break. Here's Cam with the beginning swivel and the break!

Here's my break.

We ended out the evening with some sparring. Here's Ry flying through the air. I don't know about you, but I'd probably give him 3 points for this baby.

And here's my baby.

It was a great class. I love it when Shawn teaches!