Happy Thanksgiving

I think that this is the most excited I have been for Thanksgiving in a long time.  I did really enjoy our Thanksgivings while in Nebraska.  The Cleverly's put on one killer Thanksgiving dinner which we will always miss.  However, now that we are able to live closer to family, it is really nice to be able to enjoy Thanksgiving with them again.

This year, we will have almost my entire family together, which is tricky with a family of 7 kids, their spouses, and 15 grandchildren.  We will be missing my brother and his family, but will have the other 6 kids present.  It has been so long since we have all been together like this, probably a couple of years.  Even though we do live much closer to family, I still don't get to see my Wyoming siblings very often, so I suppose that is why I am so excited for this Thanksgiving.  We will even be lucky enough to have my grandparents join us, which is always a special treat.

I have also vowed this year to make it to the early morning sale at the local Walmart.  Last year I went fairly early and managed to get some great deals, but was too late for the big items I really wanted.  So, this year, I'm going early, and dragging somebody along with me, I just need to find some poor sap that is willing.  I'm sure I'll just be frazzled and a total mess since I'm not a huge fan of people, but I'm still going.

So, to all of you out there, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Wish me luck on my early morning shopping endeavor, I'm sure I'm going to need it.  

Watch this...

Kinley is really into entertaining me with her random and not very interesting tricks.  She'll say, "watch this" and then do something fairly lame.  Lately, it has been stick her finger in her nose, remove it quickly, then promptly stick it in her mouth.  I tell her every single time it is so gross to pick your nose.  Luckily, I have yet to see her make a successful pick.  This leads us to yesterday's playing of "watch this".

Kinley:  Mommy, watch this

Me:  If you're just going to pick your nose and eat it, I don't want to see that.

Kinley: makes her sad face

Me:  Do you still have something to show mommy?

Kinley:  No way, I gross

Quirky tag

To be perfectly honest, I've been dodging/neglecting this tag for awhile.  My goal is to come off "quirky" and not "cuckoo".  Thanks to Emily for the tag, though I'm pretty sure she knows more of my "quirks" than anybody really should.  So, here goes.

1.  I am a routine/schedule person.  I do things in the exact same order, well, things that are possible to do in the same order all the time, such as showering.  In the event that I forget or skip a step during a routine, I have to go back to where I deviated, and then start again.  

2.  Every time I open my pantry or cupboard, I do a quick check to make sure that the labels are facing outward and that things are still lined up in their designated rows.  I am obsessed with making sure my house is organized as efficiently as it possibly can be.  I have rearranged my kitchen numerous times since moving into our home in August.  I think I have things worked out pretty well.

3.  I clean my entire house in one day.  I either clean the whole thing on Saturday or Monday morning.  I just really enjoying having the entire house clean at the same time.  On rare occasions, due to other activities, the cleaning has to be split up into 2 days, but I don't feel right about it until it's all cleaned in one day again.

4.  I only chew green Extra gum.  I think I can trace this back to high school athletics and my insanely superstitious ways.  We always lost when I chewed something other than green Extra, typically it was Big Red that was to blame (school colors were red and white and several pre-game thoughts and hand outs came with Big Red).  A few years ago I decided to "experiment" with some other brands of chewing gum, bad news, so I'm back to green Extra.

5.  I love to clean and enjoy the finished product even more.  I could spend 30 minutes in the cleaning products aisle at the grocery store.  I just love to find new products.  I find cleaning to be very relaxing, some people exercise to relieve stress, I just happen to clean.

6.  Under no circumstances is it acceptable for food to touch on my plate.  I will do everything I can to keep things separate and won't eat the parts that do touch.  There are some exceptions to this, like food that is supposed to mix, potatoes and gravy, maybe some gravy gets on my roll, etc.  I also eat all of one thing before moving on to the next.  I have worked really hard on this, trying to mix it up, and have made some improvement, but still prefer my old way. 

Well, hopefully you'll all still be friends now that you know I'm just a tad bit "quirky".  So, now I would like to actually tag some people.  I would like to tag Carrie H., Trista, Joni, Janae, Evige, and Cyndi.  

Play date...Kinley style

To say that Kinley has a great imagination would certainly be an understatement.  I just don't know where she comes up with this stuff.  She spent the morning playing with her best friends, Care Bear, Bear, and Raffey (pronounced Rah-rahs if you are Kinley).  I heard the following things while they were playing.

"Care Bear!  You hit Raffey?  We not hit!  Care Bear, sit here, fold your arms.  Care Bear, no pop!"  The reference to pop comes from last night when Kinley made some bad choices and lost the special privilege of having some root beer with her dinner. 

"Care Bear!  I not have time for this!"  I of course responded with, "Hey Care Bear, this is when you flop around on the floor like a fish out of water making it completely impossible to get your shoes and jacket on."  Kinley didn't think it was funny, but I sure did.

My personal favorite was, "Mommy, Raffey big pooped.  Change his diaper."

After watching them play for awhile, I told Kinley that I wanted her to be my baby again because she was acting too old.  Huge mistake.  This led to Kinley and her friends pretending to be babies, which meant me "swaddling" them like a 100 times then rocking them to sleep.  They did have time to stop for a group photo before taking a pretend nap and having a picnic in the kitchen.  I am hoping that some day in the very near future Kinley will find some friends that are a little less needy.

Tag, I'm it

I have been tagged a few times and have been putting off doing them, but here goes the first one.

8 is Great

8 tv shows I watch:

1.  The Office (Schrute bucks for everybody)

2.  Grey's Anatomy

3.  House

4.  Scrubs

5.  CNN (pretty much any show)

6.  Oprah 

7.  The Gilmore Girls (I'm not sure I actually like this show, but I can't quit watching it because I must know how the show ends)

8.  Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (again, not my pick)

8 Things I did yesterday:

1.  Woke up late and got ready super fast and chucked Kinley in the bath tub (not literally)

2.  Rushed Kinley to the dentist

3.  Tried to convince Kinley that the dentist is actually cool and fun while she insisted she did not want a turn

4.  Visited Rich at work and let Kinley mooch a gum ball off of Rich's secretary

5.  Finished my laundry

6.  Played "waterfall" with Kinley (don't ask, it's too lame to share)

7.  Finger painted with Kinley

8.  Solved world hunger but will tell no one

8 things I'm looking forward to:

1.  Thanksgiving

2. Christmas

3.  The day Kinley is potty trained

4.  Paying off our student loan

5.  Finishing my degree (assuming I can finally pick a major)

6.  The demise of the BCS

7.  Kinley to quit being scared of everything

8.  Warmer weather

8 things on my wish list:

1.  A trip to Disneyland

2.  New couches

3.  My pre-baby waist line

4.  New bedroom set

5.  Year round spring like weather

6.  To be Oprah's friend

7.  A live-in chef

8.  Fat free, calorie free, nutritious, yet still delicious chocolate.

I've lost track of what friends have done this tag, so if you feel so inclined, I tag you.

The results are in

I would like to thank all who participated in the recent "hair do" election as well as my pity party.  By the way, the pity party was a huge success, but with candy corn and Diet Coke for guests, how could it not have been a huge hit?  Not to mention, I pitied myself right into a one hour nap, apparently I do not know how to pity party like a rock star.

So, with the results of the election in, I find myself sorely disappointed.  Well, me and "chop it off" are just heart broken.  I am wondering if maybe I didn't allow for enough campaigning and enough stump speeches.  Should "chop it off" have been allowed to campaign, she would have shared stories about the hair do that is done in 5 minutes, the savings on hair products, and basically the simplicity that super short hairstyle offers.  Also, "chop it off" would have liked the public to know that this particular style would have been similar to my very shortest of hairstyles.  But, alas, I did not give her the chance and she was easily beaten.

Apparently the winning consensus is for me to keep growing with a slight preference going to the curly hair do.  I did receive comments about it being my hair and do what I wish, which of course, I usually do.  I originally began growing my hair out because Rich thought that I should, some crap about having the same hairstyle for like 7 years, and he was right.  I think I might actually be done growing for a bit and just enjoy what I have achieved thus far.  With that being said, if anybody would like to change their vote to "chop it off", I am certain I could be easily persuaded.

Pity...party of 1

Today I will be hosting a Pity Party for myself.  The party does not have set hours because I'm just not sure exactly long I will be feeling sorry for myself.  The theme of the party is "Episcleritis", which is the world's most annoying eye problem.  Basically, they don't know exactly what causes the stupid eye problem (symptoms include seriously disgusting red eye and a feeling of having vinegar rather than tears in your eye) but they do know that contact lens wear aggravates the condition.  I have been struggling with this stupid thing for 2 months, which means 2 months of no contacts for me.    

I hate wearing my glasses.  I hate that I can barely see myself in the mirror while I get ready.  I hate having to push them up all the time.  I hate that Kinley is constantly touching them and leaving tiny little fingerprints on them.  I hate that if it is raining or snowing I am constantly having to dry my glasses.  I hate that when I look up or to the side everything is still blurry.

So, why the pity party after 2 months of this.  Well, I just received word from the eye doctor that I just might not be a "contact wearing person anymore".  What?  No more contacts?  Hmm, that just really isn't going to work out for me.  So, how about this?  I do one more round of steroid eye drops and try and put those bad boys in again.

Well, it looks like it is time for the party to start.  I guess I'll go drown my sorrows in a nice cold Diet Coke and a bowl of candy corn. 

Trick or Treat and Vote for Me

We have been on the go and very busy for the last few days.  We left on Friday to go to Moroni and stopped to trick or treat a few places along the way.  Kinley, being a total scaredy cat, wasn't so excited about the whole Halloween concept, but she sure loved her lion costume (Simba actually).  We of course had to go to the Johansen's house, because honestly, it just wouldn't be Halloween without them.  Kinley did surprisingly well there, but did comment that it was scary, and she did not like the smoke machine, or getting her picture taken.

Saturday was spent playing with Papa Reed's new horse and puppy, throwing leaves, and of course playing with Cousin Wyatt.  Kinley was brave enough to pet the horse and even sit on him, but later mentioned she was scared of the clouds.  What a weird kid.  Sunday we went to the blessing of our newest niece and spent the day with Rich's family.  As usual, I forgot my camera and have no pictures, but baby AJ is very cute.

Then, on to voting day.  I had been talking all day yesterday about going to vote today.  I mentioned it again before I got in the shower today.  Then, for the rest of the morning, Kinley kept saying, let's go vote.  When we walked into the local elementary school to vote, the line was huge.  As my luck usually goes, we stood next to Yacky McYackerson, who is an 81 year old man who has voted numerous times and told us all about each time.  He was also kind of enough to suggest to Kinley that she should run around.  May I just say a very sarcastic "thank you" to Mr. Yacky McYackerson (not his real name of course).

Kinley was rather good while we waited.  She ate her snacks and colored some lovely little pictures.  She kept saying, let's vote now.  Finally, it was our turn.  Kinley stood by me and was trying really hard to get her, "proud to vote" sticker on my rear end.  Once I was done with my ballot, I walked over and handed it to the lady.  She then announced my name and that I had voted.  Kinley, with a look of sheer terror, says, "I not vote!".  Oh dear, what to do.  Without any prompting, she picks up one of her pictures, slams it on the table, and says, "dis my vote".  The lady starts laughing and asks, "well, who did you vote for?".  Kinley thinks for a minute and says, "Papa Reed, no, no, Kinley".  I told the lady that she apparently voted for herself.  The lady dinged the bell and said, "Kinley has now voted".  Kinley said, "woo hoo".  Then as we walked out to the car, Kinley told everybody in line, "Vote for me".  Somebody mentioned she did have an honest face, so I guess maybe she's got a future in politics.

Kinley's ballot