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.