Okay, I have quite a bit of catching up to do, so here it goes:

1. Dave made it back from his trip to New York on Thursday night. I met him at the train station in Greensburg and then we had dinner at the Red Star (don't be jealous, Wendi.) Since he left on Valentine's Day, he made me this ginormous card - which he strategically placed on the washing machine - I suppose he figured there was no chance of me missing it there :)

2. Camron had two more teeth pulled last Wednesday:

Dr. Bupp looked at Cam's chart quickly and said that these were teeth numbers "9" and "10" to be pulled. "11" and "12" come out on March 2!!!

Here he is after the whole ordeal was over.

It took FOREVER for his novocaine to wear off and he was extremely grouchy for a few hours because, of course, he was starving!

3. Even though I haven't seen most of you in a few days, I HAVE heard stories. You should know that you're being watched at all times.......... and you should be on your best behavior........... and not sass my niece.............. or call my sister names in the parking lot..................

4. I used to have a friend named Kim. I haven't seen or heard from her in quite some time. She hasn't tried to kick me in the head recently - I'm feeling neglected :)

5. I saw Mr. Dreskler this evening after Wendi assaulted him. He was walking around dazed and confused............

6. This is Coco:

She's pretty much our dog now. She'll be 8 months old at the end of February and she's nothing but bones covered in fur. She previously resided with Dave's boss and his family. They decided that they should have gotten another Golden Retriever when theirs went to doggie heaven, so they were trying to find a good home for Coco. She weighs about 6 pounds and I'm pretty sure that if I attach a Swiffer sheet on her somehow, I'll never have to sweep my hardwood floors again! She loves to cuddle and just sit with you. She doesn't have the pony tail holder in her hair right now so you can't really tell that she has eyes.............. a trip to the groomer is in her immediate future! The boys think we're babysitting for a few days - we're really just seeing how the whole thing would work out - Dave and I are pretty sure that she'll be staying.

Happy Birthday, Steve!!!!!!!!!!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish a "Happy Birthday" to my wonderful brother-in-law, Steve! :)

I'll have you know, Steve-O, that I looked and looked and looked through practically every folder on my computer, and in all of the pictures I have of you, you're sticking out your tongue or making some other lovely face. See:

But, to be fair, I did find this one - in which, even I must admit, you look quite cute :)

Happy Birthday!

"Tami needs".......

Okay. So I just read Wendi's blog and started laughing hysterically over all of the things that she "needs". And, since Leslie and Wendi have commanded us all to do the "(your name) needs" thing in Google - I've succumbed to peer pressure and have done it. Here are mine:

1. Tami needs help, let us pray that she receives it. Tee hee hee! I won't argue with this one.

2. What Tami needs now: Trainers & consultants who specialize in trends, social media, and corporate social responsibility. I'm also looking for home stagers...... I don't really want someone to stage my home, someone to clean it thoroughly would be nice............

3. Tami needs geography lessons. Okay, so geography isn't my strong point. I don't think it's nearly as important as being able to use the English language properly........... and spell correctly!!!

4. Tami needs a voice actor.

5. Tami needs a job. I'm quite busy as a washer-woman extraordinaire and multiple-grade-level teacher, thank you very much!

6. Tami needs to be voted as this year's "IT girl!" Please, please, please. I aspire to being an "IT" girl now that I've already achieved "princess" status.

7. Tami NEEDS a southern accent. Which she would quite easily pick up if she were to stay in the South for any length of time...

8. Tami needs to talk to people fairly often which can be a problem if nobody else is around... at that point, she just talks to herself!!!! :)

9. Tami needs to know everyone's name who will be attending....... Attending WHAT, I'm not sure, but you're all invited!

10. Tami needs to learn to accept things as they are. Ahhhh, Google is very wise. Dave will never throw his dirty underwear into the dirty clothes bag, there will always be clothes to wash, people will always get on my nerves, my chest will always be flat...................

11. Tami needs a friend. I know we were supposed to stop at 10, but I added this one anyway. It used to be true - until I met all of you and deemed you "worthy" :)

Wendi's Fill-In-The-Blank-Easy-Blog-Post-Thingymadoodle

This I can do. Filling in blanks only slightly freaks me out. As long as I don't overthink my answers, I'll be okay :)

Outside my window ....... It's dark, but I know that the neighbors' sleds are lying in the yard between our houses and their recycling trash can is up against the bushes on the side of my house thanks to the gale force winds we experienced the other night.

I am thinking ..... about how I don't want to get all of our tax information together to take to our CPA because it's a giant pain in the butt.

I am thankful for ...... hot showers.

From the kitchen ..... comes the sound of Big Bertha making ice cubes!

I am wearing ..... my comfy, worn out jeans and my tkd hoodie with the weird spacing on the back :)

I am creating ...... this highly informative blog post.

I am going ...... to curl up on the couch and watch something on tv with Dave as soon as the boys go to bed. Some sort of snack and wine will follow.

I am hoping ...... that the next several days pass quickly because I'll miss Dave while he's gone :(

Around the house ...... the boys are watching "Clone Wars" in their jammie pants and t-shirts. Ry's eating his regular evening snack of popcorn. Dave's looking for movies to take with him on his trip. (He picked "Dodge Ball", "Schindler's List", "Napoleon Dynamite", "True Lies", and "Robin Hood, Men In Tights" - he's got quite a mix there, wouldn't you say????)

One of my favorite things ..... is reading a good book. My sister, Lori, will think that's a boring answer. She's just jealous 'cause she can't read. :)

A few plans for the rest of the week ....... I'll be stopping by Wendilouwho's house tomorrow to pick up some books to keep me occupied while BS is in New York. Benjy asked if I'd bring my boys with me :) My mom and dad are having us over for lunch on Sunday. Cam has an orthodontist appointment on Monday morning. Other than that, we'll be doing schoolwork and I'll be washing the never-ending, always-growing mound of clothes!

Look at the happy, smiling face of Big Sexy in this picture! Doesn't he look carefree, at peace and rested? This is NOT how he looks right now because Big Sexy is sick. This is rather shocking because he never gets sick. The flow pattern of illness in our house usually progresses like this: Ryan always seems to get whatever first, he also gets over it the quickest - Cam usually starts showing the effects of Ry's "sharing" a couple of days later - and then, by the time the two of them have pretty much recovered, I succumb to whatever nasty bug they have spread to me via their sneezing, coughing and incessant nose-wiping. Dave never gets whatever it is we have all passed around. And, he can still say that.... because whatever he has now, he did not get here at home! We were at his sister's house this past Saturday for a birthday party and a vast majority of the people there were sick (gee, woulda been nice to know that before we showed up, eh?) Anyway, last night, while we were at tkd, he said his throat started bothering him. By the time he went to bed, he was miserable. He spent the night tossing and turning and sucking on throat lozenges. Why is it when I'm sick, I go downstairs, make tea, read a book or watch tv, and suffer my misery in silence letting others get their rest, but when others are not feeling up to snuff, it's okay to get up repeatedly to go into the bathroom to spit (of course the spitting is preceded by the lovely throat clearing/bringing it up sound) and then flop back into bed only to open the crinkly wrap on a new throat lozenge every couple of minutes and then munch the remaining bit of lozenge when it gets too small and thin to suck on anymore???? Why? Why? Why? (That was an amazingly long run-on. You'll have to excuse me; I'm VERY tired.... I didn't get much rest last night :) Anyway, he actually took a sick day and stayed home from work today! I think the last time he did that was when he had hernia surgery and couldn't walk. He worked all day anyway on his laptop from the dining room table, but he got to do it in his fancy "Ford" jammie pants that I bought him on our last all-girls' night out.

Okay, I think my complainy rant is over. I'm going to get a quick bite to eat and then go to bed. If he crinkles a wrapper in my ear this evening, I can't be responsible for my actions...............

I hope you feel better soon, Dave! :)