Thursday Thoughts

It's funny how you could have never heard of something your entire life and then once you do you keep hearing about it.  I'd never heard of punkin chunkin before in my life until I watched a Modern Family episode where Cam had this far fetched story about chunkin a punkin in a sling across an entire football field and they chunked a punkin at the end in an attempt to see if he was fibbing or actually telling the truth.  Then over Thanksgiving break I happened to see the Punkin Chunkin World Championships competition on TV.  Ironically enough, this occurs in Mj's home state of Delaware and is a big thing there.  Then, I discover a new blogger and she lives guess where?  Delaware.  And she actually went to guess what?  The Punkin Chunkin' World Championships to watch.  It seems that you don't know of something until the universe decides you are supposed to and then once you do it sort of pops up all over the place.  Never heard of it either?  Well, they have a website of course; Punkinchunkin.com.

As if Basketball Wives weren't enough we now have the pleasure of Baseball Wives in Arizona.  This show is really reaching here.  Most of them aren't even actually wives and most of the who are actually wives are married to retired players.  They'll show a "wife" and the illustrious caption of Married to So and So Retired flashes across the screen.  Or even worse,  Ex Wife of So and So (Tampa Bay).  If you are really at the bottom of the barrel it says Dated so and so (Denver).  Okay.  I better shut up though; because at least it gets me through my Elliptical work outs.

Is anyone else a regular unwitting participant in class action lawsuits?  I had a string of class action settlement pay days last year and a few this year too. I can't even count how many class action e mails and letters I've received advising me of my rights to opt out or in or whatever else.  Most of the time the lawsuits are against companies I've actually heard of but a couple weeks ago I got an $18.00 check out of the blue for a lawsuit about something I've never even heard of.  It's funny how they find me too.  They had my new address but not not my new last name.  It's kinda nice to receive a $20 check here or a $30 check there every now and then out of the blue.  It's just odd.

Decorate Me

OK...so we got the tree last Saturday.  It smells like Christmas but it doesn't look like it quite yet.  We have TWO neighbors with lit up Christmas carousels in their front yards (I know....random).  We also have a blow up Santa and Reindeer across the street and we have yet to decorate our tree.  This is a going to be a jam packed weekend but mark my words it will be decorated  by the time the weekend is out.

Thanksgiving at Our House

Mj and his very first Turkey

Can I really say that I hosted Thanksgiving if I didn't cook a single thing?  Well, it was my house and I did do a lot of dishes and cleaning up so maybe that counts?  Everyone knows that my husband is the chef in our house so I don't think anyone was surprised that he did the whole shebang on his own.  It's also no surprise that it was his idea that we host in the first place.  Now that we have a house he just couldn't wait to do it for the first time.  I had no doubts that we he could pull it off.  His dad is in town so he was off Wednesday.  By the time I got home from work and the gym he'd done most of the cooking with a few things left over in addition to the Turkey left for the day of. 

Yummy Thanksgiving Day Buffet

Me and my nephew

We had 7 people over, so a total of 9.  There was so much food!!  My mom  brought some appetizers, potato salad, asparagus, macaroni and cheese and sweet potato pie.  My sister brought deviled eggs and greens.  Mj made everything from scratch including the cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, bread, sweet potatoes, lemon cake, cinnamon swirl cake and then of course the turkey.  And I, along with everyone else gobbled it all up.  Dinner was hot and ready by 5pm.   Way different then the debacle that was last year's Thanksgiving.

My sister and I in the middle of a dance battle

I didn't think I overdid it...until dessert.  The cinnamon cake was delicious.  By the time I finished it off with ice cream I was stuffed!!  Then, we all had fun with Dance Central 2 on X Box Kinect.  Everybody tried it at least once.  I was so full that I could barely move by this time so I'll blame my total lack of coordination with the dance moves on that.

I really enjoyed spending time with family.  It was a great Thanksgiving and now we have tons and tons of leftovers.  I don't know how we will ever eat it all!  Our refrigerator is packed to the brim and that means no cooking for either one of us for a while.

40 Years

Me and the rents on my wedding day

I don't know the origins of it but there are designated traditional wedding gifts for every anniversary year from 1-75.  I don't think I'll live long enough to be with my husband for 75 years but if by some miracle I did, then I know that our gift to each other that year is supposed to be diamonds.  Year 3 is leather, year 6 is candy, year 15 is crystal and year 30 is pearls.  According to the list year 40 is a Ruby.  My parents just celebrated their 40th anniversary and a month ago my mom was thisclose to giving my dad a kidney.  Now that is off the charts awesome in terms of a gift right?  An organ from your very own body is way more precious then diamonds.  It is the ultimate gift of life and health.  My mom was a match and right in the middle of the testing process.  It turns out she didn't have to donate but she was willing and ready to do it.  

On October 24th they got the call.  My mom picked up the phone and the lady said, "Does your husband still want a kidney?"  My mom said, "YES."  A donor kidney had finally became available and by 7:00am they were at the hospital and my dad was getting tested and prepped for transplant surgery.  It took longer then we thought it would; about 5 hours.  My dad pulled through with flying colors.  He was in ICU for a day then got moved to his regular room.  Just one week after surgery he got to go home.  The doctors said the kidney was "lazy."  My dad was really disappointed to still have to do dialysis even after the long awaited healthy kidney but we hoped that it would start doing it's job very soon and it did.  On November 9th he was taken off of dialysis.  No more would he have to spent 4 hours a day 3 days a week hooked up to a machine to do what his kidneys no longer would.  He actually has three kidneys now.  Turns out they actually leave the non working ones in and just add the new one. 

Now there are doctors appointments several days a week and a stock pile of pills that need to be taken in addition to his insulin.  My mom took off work and has been right there by his side taking care of him and helping him manage just as she has been through this entire process.  Just as she has been for the last 40 years.  In sickness and in health, through good times and bad.  I can't count how many times I shook my head in anger over things that were going on in that relationship but my mom's love for him has never wavered; and despite actions that may speak to the contrary neither has his for her.  My mom is as forgiving as she is generous and my dad is as loveable as he is stubborn.  When you love someone like that you will do anything to save their life.  You are selfless if a little selfish because not only will you do what it takes to make sure that person is okay but you also can't bear to imagine a world in which they do not exist and want to keep them with you.  My dad feels healthier and more energetic then he has in a long while.  He needs to keep up the exercise and eating right.  This is a new lease on life and he need not waste it.  Not only for himself but for the people who love him.  I don't like to think of my parents getting older.  For my whole life they've just always been there and that's how I want it to stay.   I'd like to think that they will be here forever.  Just as I'd like to think that my husband and my sisters and anybody else I care about will be too.   

Forty years with Mj.  I'm all signed up...I just don't want it to fly by too fast.  The 40 year anniversary traditional gift is Ruby, the modern day gift is a Garnet and if he needed an organ I would give it to him.  What will we look like in 40 years?  What kind of twists and turns will our relationship have taken?  How many date nights, weekend getaways and movie nights will there have been?  How many disagreements?  Life is just so precious.  And so is love.  We are not promised tomorrow so while we are here we need to be thankful for what we have, live and love as hard as we can, while we still can.  

20 + 10 Birthday Party

All dressed up and ready to go

Me and the beautiful Birthday Girl

Another good friend of mine entered the 30 something club.  Her Birthday is actually Thanksgiving Day but she had her party on Saturday night.  Instead of going out she invited all her friends to her parents house and we all celebrated with her.  Months ago Mj planned to attend a college football game with his friends.  Then, I find out that this party is on the same night.  Oh no!!  He made a half hearted attempt to keep his original plans but when it came down to it he knew how sad his wife would be if she had to go without her main squeeze so those plans basically fell apart and I got to have him for my date.  It was a really fun party.  There were plenty of alcoholic beverages to choose from, good music, good food and a delicious Red Velvet cake.  She hired a guy to make street tacos and they were to die for.  Let's just say I ate way too many to mention here without total embarrassment and shame.

Me and Mj

You can either be sad about turning 30 or you can get over it and just celebrate and that's what she did.   Which got me wondering what I did for my 30th and I actually can't really remember.  I don't think I did much of anything at all and I vaguely remember being kind of bummed out.  Hind sight is 20/20.  If I knew then what I know now then I wouldn't have been sad about the Big 3-0 at all.  My 20's kinda sucked and the 30's have been way better then I ever expected.  Like me, Bianca has spent her 20's dealing with some relationship challenges and I hope she finds her Mr. Right in her 30's like I did.

Friday Randoms

• On the way to work one day I saw a guy brushing his teeth in his car.  I was really curious about where he would spit so I kept checking him out in my rear view.  He opened the door, spit in the street, checked his teeth in the mirror and then did a little bit more brushing.  I also saw a girl putting on make up in her car.  I put on my juicy tube lip gloss every day in the car on my way to work and I've done a few touch ups in the past but she did the whole nine yards.  Sitting there in traffic on the freeway I watched her put on foundation, blush, eye shadow, mascara and then whip out a brush and start brushing her hair.  Very entertaining.

• I saw a guy at the gym wearing flip flops.  I've never been able to figure that one out.  What kind of work out are you planning to do in flip flops?  And if you drop a weight on your foot you are in big trouble.  I think it should be a rule that you can't wear flip flops...or a tweed suit.  Yep.  I saw a guy in a tweed suit on the exercise bike.  He even had a hat on.  You know those cool ones with the brim?  And while I'm at it why would anyone want to work out in denim?

• I've been getting unsolicited junk mail at work.  That's weird in and of itself because I don't use this address for anything but even weirder is that it's from Camel.  The cigarettes.  I love coupons and if I smoked these would be awesome but considering I've never even thought about smoking, getting them at work is just annoying and offensive.

• Have you seen the new Splenda Essentials adds?  It's Splenda with added Vitamin B, Anti-Oxidants and Fiber.  I use Splenda and plenty of it because I need flavor in my coffee and am not willing to take in the calories of "real" sugar even though I have read all kinds of warnings that it could be hazardous to my health.  I'll gladly take the Vitamins, it just strikes me as strange to put Vitamins in a food product that has no nutritional value and could actually hurt your health.  It's like putting Calcium in Donuts. Hey, I wish they would!!  Then, I could feel better about eating them.

•  We had five people over to our house to hang out and watch a pay per view fight over the weekend.  All five of them had i phones and you know we got 'em too.  The i Phone is pretty catching.

I LOVE the idea long sleeved dresses because I'm always cold

• I've been a bit of a shopaholic lately.  I purchased 4 pairs of boots since last month!  The last two are Audrey Brooke here and BCBG here from DSW.  Are DSW and Aldo gonna pay my bills?  No.  So why do I keep giving them my money?  I also have bought 2 sweaters and a bunch of long sleeved shirts for Fall.  I'm done!  I swear.  At least I thought I was until a fellow blogger Natalie turned me onto this gem of a website.  Thanks Natalie!!  My original intention was to strike it from the record book and pretend I'd never seen it but instead here I am posting about it and saving the link on my very own blog.  Francesca's Collections has the kind of pieces I've been looking for and can't seem to find in the stores and they even put together outfits for you and set it up so you can easily buy every piece in the outfit to complete your look.  It's perfect for a style challenged person like me.  Just look at that adorable dress; speaking of which I have hardly any dresses.  The prices aren't bad and it turns out they even have a store near where my sister lives.  I MUST resist this store until after the new year.  I've done enough damage already.   

Thanksgiving is in the air!  We are going grocery shopping this week to get everything we need.  We are going to a big 3-0 birthday party on Saturday night so thank goodness the rain isn't going to start until Sunday when I will be at home all day recovering.

Have a great weekend everyone.

The Trash Man

My husband is not really into the whole household cleaning and organization thing.  He is amazing in the kitchen and will cook up a great dinner or bake cookies in a heart beat but it can be difficult to get him to straighten up or pick up after himself.  He can be forgetful too.  Sometimes I have to remind him over and over to do certain things before he remembers to do it. 

There is one particular thing however that he does unprompted and without any reminders by me.  Rain or shine like nobodies business he is on it when it comes to taking out the trash.  I have never had to remind him about this chore as long as we have lived together.  In fact, I never even specifically asked him to...he just did...like magic.  When our little recycling trash bin just outside the garage door fills up he dumps it.  Come Monday morning as I lay in bed still hitting snooze I can hear the familiar scraping of him wheeling those trash bins out to the curb before he goes to work.   By the time I roll up to the house later that day after work those bins are back inside the fence next to the house right where they belong.  More often then not he forgets to put a trash bag in the can but bless his heart, he will dump the kitchen trash and will even walk it outside to the trash bins if I pull it out and leave it next to the door.  What is it with men and trash? It's just about the manliest household chore around.  I wish cleaning the bathroom or dusting the blinds were considered manly.  I can hear it now.  No honey, you better not be cleaning the bathroom again.  You know that's my job.  Not likely, but the trash is their domain and you would be hard pressed to find a man who does not believe it is his inherent duty to handle it.  And thank goodness because I have so many other things to do and remind him about so I really appreciate that I don't ever have to haul those stinky heavy trash bins to the curb.

When it comes to trash I can sit back, relax and know that it's being taken care of.  Just as soon as I finish cleaning the house.