Mid-life Crisis

58 years would be the full-life.

Evidence A:  We got a car to replace the truck this past week.  It has 4 seats for hauling kids, and also has 290HP and a 6 speed transmissions for hauling me.

Evidence B: I haven't shaved since Thanksgiving.  Most of the reason is because Lettie doesn't have a beard of her own and she wants to experiment with mine.  I don't miss shaving each morning before work and that's a 2 minute time saver.  I might never shave again...unless I develop some creepy looking mustache region.

Evidence C:  I've started working on my pilot license.  I have 7 hours of flight time in a Cessna 152.  I haven't flown anywhere except to the North East Practice Area and back to the airfield, but I'm getting better.  One day the rudder will do what it's supposed to do and I'll be able to talk on the radio without repeating myself 3 times until I get it right.

Cowboy Santa

I finally finished PJ's stocking.  Just in the St. Nick of time (sorry, I couldn't resist).  It's a cowboy santa and the stocking is shaped like a cowboy boot.  Cute!

I delivered a few goody bags today to some special people.  I brought some to Jackson's teacher and to the other people who help out at his school.  I also brought some to my ob and to the doctor I used to work for.  Thought I'd share a couple of the recipes I used this year because all the goodies turned out great.  I made a few different things and wrapped them in christmas bags with little tags that described what was included.  This chick makes awesome tags and cards and lets you download them for free!

Almond-Poppyseed Bread

I came across this recipe while blog-hopping.  The bread is very moist and flavorful.  They have some awesome recipes on here.  I'm dying to try the sugar cookies and peppermint brownies.

Chocolate-ginger donuts

I got this recipe from a great cooking blog called my first kitchen.  I love a lot of her recipes. Check out her creamy vegetable soup.  It has become a go-to recipe for me when I can't decide what to cook.

White chocolate pretzels

These are the easiest treat ever and I love the combo. of salty and sweet.  Just melt some white chocolate, give the pretzels a little dip and sprinkle them with red and green sugar.  Let them set on wax paper before you put them in bags.

Sad Day

I'm afraid it might be time to say goodbye to one of our oldest, and most dependable friends.  On Wednesday morning I had a 1979 Impala prevent me from getting to work on time.  We were driving beside each other and the Impala had a hard time stopping in time to not rear-end the car in front of them.  They swerved into me, and used their bumper to hook the backside of the truck.  And of course, I had just filled up the tank with gas.

The 1992 S-10 was the car that I learned to drive on, and Dad and I traded it back and forth so that we both owned it twice.  It was a good truck.  The engine and transmission are in good shape.  Despite being built in Detroit, this truck can still go a lot longer.

Due to 243,180 miles, the body shop and police man and tow truck driver all say it is totaled.  The damage isn't terrible though.  It needs a new bed.  I hate to see that vintage UA sticker get smashed.  Insurance still hasn't examined it, so it's possible that it isn't totaled.  I'm not holding my breath and I've started to look for a new vehicle.

I wasn't prepared to buy a car so I have no idea what I want.  At first I was thinking that I would get the truck fixed no matter what.  Then I was thinking about getting another truck, but with 4 seats to haul babies if necessary.  I don't like huge trucks, or uselessly small truck beds.  Now I'm thinking about getting a car and a trailer for Lettie's car when we need to haul something.  I'm trying to decide if I want a nice car, or a regular car while I'm waiting on insurance to work through their paperwork.

Blog Readers Question:  Would you still talk to me if I drove a car that was a lot nicer than yours?  Not to brag, but I really would be a whole lot better than you.  This truck might have been the only thing keeping me grounded.

St. Nicholas Day and a tree

Christmas is in full swing around here.  We've gotten most of our decorations up and most of our presents wrapped.  Yay!

Jackson and Patrick left their shoes out on December 6th for St. Nicholas.  St. Nicholas was a wealthy man who spent his life using his inheritance to help the sick and needy and December 6th is his feast day.  You can read all about that here.

This is the first year that Jackson could understand the concept.  For some reason, he freaked out about leaving his shoes outside, but he was definitely happy the next morning when he saw his loot.  He and Patrick both got books about Christmas, toys, hats and the favorite was Molly the train's car.

We got our tree last week.  It's awesome!  We have had lots of trouble finding a good spot for our tree in this house.  One year we had it upstairs and we debated on putting it in the study or even outside on the deck.  We decided to rearrange our living room furniture and put it in the corner near our mantle.  The tree we found is nice and skinny and it works perfectly in this spot.  I love having it in our living space where we spend most of our time.  I was a little worried that Patrick would be all over it, especially since he considers it his job to cause mischief around the house lately, but he doesn't bother it.  He's more interested in the soft tree skirt than the lights and ornaments.

None of my other Christmas decoration pictures turned out very well, but we do have lots of festive stuff around.  I put a big garland on the fireplace and going up the stairs.  I also like to "wrap" our pantry doors with plaid ribbon.  I'm still working on Patrick's stocking.  I'll post a pic when it's finally complete.  It's taking forever!

Excitement

I'm super pumped.  The source of my excitement?  2 strangers in a stanley steemer truck that arrived on Tuesday.  Those blessed men cleaned my carpet, tile and grout and I think I love them.  I've tried every known method of grout cleaning out there.  I've bought industrial strength chemicals and scrubbed on my hands and knees with a toothbrush, but the grout still didn't look great.  Honestly, it still doesn't look very different, but I feel like it's more clean because someone else cleaned it.  I know, I'm crazy.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.  We forgot our camera, so here's a family picture that Janie took.

Thanks Jane!

I'm very excited about Christmas this year.  We didn't do much decorating last year since I was about 40 weeks pregnant.  Jackson is really understanding the holiday and is excited about it, so I'm really into decorating.  I just wish he would ask Santa for something other than trains.

We're going to get our tree tonight.  I'll try to post some pictures of all the festivity soon.

I'm it

Susan tagged me, so I guess I'll play along.  (She's one of those people with a private blog, so you might not be able to use that link)

I'm supposed to find my 4th picture in my 4th file and post it.

This was taken when we were in Australia visiting my parents.  They lived in Toowoomba for about 2 years.  We were able to go visit for 2 weeks.  We had been married for a year and saved up our entire first year of marriage to be able to go.  It was unforgettable and a great trip.

The koalas were very cute, but a little stinky.  They didn't feel the way I thought they would.  Their fur is very coarse and kind of rough.  Every time we were in the car on the trip I would search in all the tall eucalyptus trees on the side of the road to try to see a wild one.  They hang out in the tops of the trees and sleep all day.

Now I'm supposed to tag 4 more people, but I'm a loser in the blogging world (let's face it, the real world too) so I can only think of 3 people to tag:

1.  Ellie

2.  Holly

3.  Lisa

  

Really?

Ok, I am still sick...hence the reason I am awake at 3 am, so I decided to do a little blogging to pass the time.  My hearing has greatly improved over the past week.  I can hear, things just sound distorted.  I know Alex is so glad to not hear "Huh?" and "What?" nearly as often.  I went to the ENT last week and he could see the ruptured spots on both of my eardrums, but that they are healing.  I'm pretty sure my right ear is still infected, though.  I'm waiting it out because I'm tired of taking antibiotics.

We took a short trip to Memphis during the week.  Alex had to go for work, so the boys and I tagged along.  It was freezing and fun!  The boys and I just walked around all day while Alex worked.  I'm sure I was an interesting sight since we alternated with Jackson in the stroller and Patrick tied on my front in a Mei Tai carrier or Patrick in the stroller and me tightly gripping Jack's hand to keep him from running off somewhere.  Patrick took a nap in the carrier during our morning walk and he instead of cuddling into my chest, he prefers to lean back so his back is arched and I'm scared he's going to break his little neck.  I got a lot of strange looks and comments like "Boy, you've got your hands full."  Really?

We stayed in a hotel that had "suites", so I expected to have 2 rooms-one with a bed and another with a couch of some sort.  I thought this would work well for sleeping arrangements.  We arrived to find that we were booked in a handicapped room so it was just one large room with no couch.  All four of us sleeping in the same room was a little difficult, but the boys did really well.  Naptime was entertaining.  After an hour of Jackson talking and getting out of bed, I eventually turned off every light and closed the blinds and pretended to go to sleep.  After he fell asleep I was able to read my book with the flashlight we brought (one of Jackson's favorite toys of the moment.)

Jackson's favorite part of the trip was the Peabody ducks.  For anyone unfamiliar here's the story.  We stayed in the lobby of that hotel for over an hour in the morning and also went back in the evening.  Jackson also enjoyed the crazy guy on Beale street who insisted on drawing a "caricature" of him and trying to rob us blind.  

Good times!

Since I don't have a great picture of Patrick from the trip I'll throw in this one of his newest way to give mommy a heart attack.  He really really likes to climb the stairs.