Happy Thanksgiving!

You know, it's easy to be upset that you have to work at 4am on a holiday. I sometimes wish I didn't have the type of job where I have to worry about working on holidays. But of all days, Thanksgiving makes me take a step back and realize how thankful I am that I have a job today. I know where my next paycheck is coming from and I don't have to worry about losing my home or not being able to afford to buy Christmas presents for the people I care about. And sitting here at 6am makes me think of all of the other blessings that I have in my life:

• I have an amazing husband who loves me and who I'm crazy about. I know he'll always be there for me and I'm so excited about our future together.
• I have the greatest family in the world (actually familIES now), and they both live right around the corner, so Jarrod and I don't have to worry about traveling or splitting up the holidays. We just get a chance to spend these special days with the people that we love.
• I have a great house that's not falling apart or so tiny that we don't have enough room to live in.
• I have the cutest puppy who drives me nuts, but in the nearly 3 months we've had her hasn't eaten any of my shoes or Coach purses (just one Mac cable that my husband spliced back together. He's so handy!)
• I had a beautiful wedding this year that was everything I'd dreamed of.
• Although I may not have the perfect bill of health that others have, I'm alive, I'm able to have a normal life, I don't spend my days in the hospital or hooked up to machines or eating a really disgusting diet.
• I have great friends that I know I can count on.
• I live in a country that has it's share of problems, but I don't have to worry about hiding my faith in God or fear that my government may hurt me or my family and I get to keep the money I earn and work for (well, most of it, at least).
• I get to enjoy the most fabulous Thanksgiving meal this evening, and I can't wait!

I really don't think I could ask for more, and if this is at good as it gets... then I'm good with that. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! God bless!

Under the Knife: My Wisdom Teeth Experience

What an awful week! I've been a little MIA ever since I got my wisdom teeth out the other week. It's been 10 days, and I feel like I'm just now getting back on track. 


The whole experience wasn't at all what I thought it would be. I remember sitting in the dental chair last Friday with this weird elephant looking thing over my nose which was giving me laughing gas. Now, I'd never had laughing gas before and it was a very strange experience. My head started swimming a little and my tongue felt very large in my mouth and I did have a strange urge to laugh for no apparent reason, but I tried my best to keep my giggles to myself. I also had a number of strange thoughts pass through my head as they were putting me under the anesthesia. I wish I could remember what they all were, but I do remember that I was amused by my thoughts and said to myself that it would make a great book if we could record all the strange thoughts that pass through people's minds right before they go under anesthesia. Yah, I was definitely kinda loopy. 


Then of course you wake up a little bit later with a banging headache and a couple of large holes in the back of your mouth. Those first couple of days were miserable. I could only eat apple sauce and pudding, and I hardly kept any of that down. I pretty much didn't eat anything for about 5 days and even had to go home sick after a couple of hours at work last Monday. After that, I decided I needed to go for something a bit more solid and had just about the best meal of my life of grilled salmon, mashed potatoes and broccoli casserole from O'Charley's. I felt 100 times better after actually eating some food.


So now, it's 10 days after the fact, but my teeth still kinda hurt and I have to still be careful when I'm chewing and try to stick to the right side of my mouth (where I only had 1 tooth out). I go back tomorrow for a check up, so here's hoping that all's well.


I can't help but at least be grateful that I got this over with when I did. Can you imagine spending Thanksgiving Day worrying about what you're eating?? And let me go ahead and throw out there that Thanksgiving is arguably my favorite day of the year. I mean, it's a holiday that's completely structured around a meal. What's better than that?? 


So now it's time to focus on better things, like the fact that Thanksgiving is only 3 days away and then I get to decorate for Christmas! Can't wait!

Pardon the onion

I tend to get down on myself a lot for mistakes I make around the house. Like yesterday, I tried to make enchiladas with a sour cream sauce and mid-way through the recipe I realize I'm missing a key ingredient (of course, this is about 2 hours after I just ran to the store to pick up some other things) and it's much too late at this point to run out and pick it up. So I saved what I had and put it together tonight. It came out OK, but I used way too much onion. And I like onions,  we all know what too much onion is like. I can't imagine this taste in my mouth going away any time soon. But I find myself apologizing constantly for my little errors. "I'm sorry there's no dinner ready tonight," "I'm sorry I didn't make it to the store today," or "I'm sorry that I didn't get a chance to clean up the kitchen."

I think one problem I have is I'm constantly comparing myself to my mother who never seemed to make these mistakes. But then I realize two things:

1. She'd had 10 years (or so) of practice before I even start remembering things! I'm sure she went through the same stupid mistakes that I make and, if they had cell phones back then, probably would've called her mom a million times in the grocery store when she couldn't find what she was looking for. (And Mom, if you didn't, then don't tell me and let me live in my little delusional world). I guess this is my time to have a go at it and make those mistakes now so I know better for the future.

And 2. She wasn't perfect at everything while I was growing up (Sorry, Mom). I remember this one Thanksgiving where we almost didn't have any turkey gravy because she'd gotten a new roasting pan and the teflon started flaking off in the gravy. What she did best was stay calm in the scenario. I would've been freaking out about how Thanksgiving was ruined and everyone was going to be so disappointed. But we kept it quiet and strained it out the best we could and served the teflon-laced gravy (If anybody asks, it's just some extra pepper and spices). Nobody knew the difference and nobody died of teflon poisoning.

I think I need to start handling things more gracefully and have a bit more of a "c'est la vie" mentality. I think it's the whole newly-wed ideology that I'm supposed to be Donna Reed and have the house spotless, hot dinner on the table (while already having cleaned the kitchen, I might add) and not a hair out of place. I hope to change this idea and just realize that next time I'll know to use less onion and more cheese. I'll see that I'm not a failure at life just because I forgot to pick up some more chicken broth at the grocery store. And I'll realize that I'll get the hang of things one of these days.

Sweet November

I actually went to see that movie starring Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves when I was like 15... it was pretty awful, but makes a nice sounding title! Anyways, I cannot believe it's November already and the holiday season is officially in full swing (at least in my opinion, Halloween is the kick off). November is always lots of fun. It's when the Christmas shopping really starts and of course Thanksgiving: a holiday centered around a meal, it doesn't get much better than that! Plus, Thanksgiving has been designated as MY holiday. You see, my sisters and I decided years ago that when we're the ones who take over the holiday dinners and family gatherings, we're going to split up the holidays. So Beka took Christmas, Hannah got Easter, and I chose Thanksgiving! So for the past couple of years I always try to make it over to my parent's the day before to help with all the preps and learn the family secrets! (And by the way, I don't care what any of you say, the Lindsey Thanksgiving turkey stuffing is the best in the world!)

 

I also cannot believe that this is the third month I've been writing up my goals and plans. Although I'm still getting used to the idea of setting monthly goals and working to accomplish them, I really like the challenge and the accountability. I know as time goes on that I'll get better at setting realistic goals and making the time to work to meet them. I actually did a pretty decent job this past month:

 

1. I'm going to get working on the concept! **I did start working on this! Got a long way to go, though.

2. Come up with and implement a plan for keeping the house clean. **At least halfway started this. I have a plan in place, and have implemented it on some days. now going to kick it into full gear!

3. Work with Rylie on some new tricks. **I give Jarrod most of the credit here, but she knows "sit" and "shake" and "get over here!"

4. Wedding picture organizing. **Definitely found no time to do this. Hoping to get to it this month! Maybe!

5. Bridesmaid in wedding **So fun!

6. Decorate for fall and Halloween. **A picture is always better

 

7. Start some Christmas shopping. **Another part-way completed goal. So I didn't actually "start" shopping, but I have pretty much determined what I'm getting for everyone, so now it's time to actually start getting the stuff.

New Goals for November:

1. Get further in the story planning. **I don't wanna just meet a "minimum requirement" every month, I wanna make time for it and make some progress. 

2. Organize, organize, organize! **I want to be an organization nerd (well, at least I need to be!) This may sound strange, but I need to get organized to get organized (i.e. I need lists and plans to keep things in order). Planning on hitting up the Container Store. Maybe I'll be inspired.

3. Christmas shopping! **This month it's not getting-a-jump-on-things; this is the do-or-die month. I refuse to be doing all of my shopping in December!

4. Paint the Living Room. **This is slightly (mostly) dependent on Jarrod and whether he's also got the time for it, but it's something we've been wanting to do and I'd like to put it out there and make it a priority.

5. Help prepare a fabulous Thanksgiving day meal and enjoy dinner with my wonderful family: both of them!

That's all for now. I know with the holidays, things are going to get really busy soon. Happy November!