Sick of Being Sick (On New Year's Eve)

Up here, I am only an hour + from ringing in the new year. While I am the first to jump at the chance of partying it up, I have a little New Year's tradition of my own- getting sick. Since college (maybe before, I never kept up) I would get sick before the festivities would even begin. Each year the level of sickness has varied, throwing-up sick, migraine sick, flu sick, sick of people sick, etc.

Of course, each year I forget about this Tradition of mine and make plans, plan on staying up late, and then it happens- "I think my throat is closing up." Husband looks at me, 10:30 PM at the grocery store picking up some New Year movies and dessert. "What?" he looks at me horrified because he cooked dinner for me earlier. "I think we need to leave. Right now."

While I was freaking out because I have been every kind of sick before, but never had a severe allergic reaction to anything, it dawned on me again and I looked at Husband, "Oh, now I know why I am sick. It's New Year's Eve! I always get sick on New Year's Eve." It may be all in my head, but it happens every year. Most of the time, I just deal with it- stick to my water and crackers and leave my phone on "Loud" so I can be a designated driver to anyone who calls. Not to worry, I am all Benedryled up right now, which is making me feel pretty woozy. This post should be interesting to reread tomorrow.

Okay, I had plans to blog about something substantial below all this rambling, but the wooziness is overcoming me now so I will clue you in on my pre-sick New Year's Eve fun tomorrow.

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Fine, I'll blog. But that doesn't mean I want to.

So I forgot to blog about Christmas. So sue me.

I hate when I forget to blog about topics and then have to blog about them later- I always forget what I was going to say.

I really don't even want to blog about it anymore, but I have all these pictures so I might as well, right?

I can't decide if I should write about my entire Christmas vacation or not. I mean, do people come to my blog to look at pictures and read captions or do they come to read blogs and maybe see some pictures? It would be nice if I had some feedback.

I wish I would have thought of blogging when I was back in Martin, then I could have been the Gossip Girl of Martin- except without all the gossip (well, maybe a little gossip). So many interesting things went down in that tiny town (am I the only person who noticed that rhymed?).

I think I'll have a frozen pizza for dinner. And a burrito.

Okay, okay, back on topic. Christmas time! Here's the full report.

Husband and I went shopping for one another's gifts together- which was fun, but kind of anti-climatic when it came time to open presents (the moment we got home). I was decent enough to at least fill our stockings before we opened them, and I did manage to hide two gifts from Husband.

Things that happened during Christmas vacation:

• We couldn't leave our apartment until three days after our originally planned departure time because of the snow, which left no time to visit my friends (guess everyone will have to come see me now!)
• I, miraculously, got my entire family to do a huge puzzle with me. The biggest participator, brother BNIB. That's right, BNIB did the most leg work. Did I mention the puzzle's picture was of an old-timey sewing room?
• On Christmas Eve, the power went out at my house- but that was okay because I was headed to church with Husband's family. After which, we discovered the power was also out at his aunt's house where we were having Christmas Eve dinner (cooked by Adam, delicioso!). We ate by candlelight.
• I stole BNIB's dog Oscar's collar for Matlock. I told him I would send it to him, but the more I see Matlock wear it, the more I like it.

• Some of our nephews on Husband's side got a full military combat gear and toy gun arsenal from Santa for Christmas. See pictures below:

"It's an NRA Christmas!"

Other (non-kid) people seemed to like the toys more than the kids did...

Off to eat my food now and watch District 9, tune in later for more...

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Pillow Talk (on the road)

While traveling to Tennessee, Husband and I had plenty of time to talk, and while I couldn't remember all the conversations we had, one in particular did stand out. Via my blackberry I found out that Brittany Murphy had died at the young age of 32 from which the following conversation stemmed. I added a picture of Matlock on the road trip for a good visual.

Me: 32 is so young, I need to start eating better. If you died, I don't think I would marry again. Would you?

Husband: It depends. If we had small children I would probably have to or they'd never get raised. "Can you raise my children? Good. Will you marry me?"

Me: (laughing)

Husband: "Wait. Can you cook too? Good." Phew! I almost forgot to add that one!

Me: (laughing again) But I don't cook?

Husband: I know. I'm not going to make that mistake twice.

Me: (laughing really hard)

Husband: I want you to marry again - someone really rich.

Me: Well, if I did get married again it won't be for love it will be for money.

Husband: Why is that?

Me: I'm not going to make that mistake twice.

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Let it Snow!

The weather outside is frightful, but my puppy is so delightful!

Snow has come and hindered our chances of starting our trek back to Tennessee today (hopefully not tomorrow too). And since the snow started last night and hasn't let up yet- we are stuck here until further notice. But to give you a snippet of what we are living with here, I took plenty of pictures.

Me, playing in the snow and Matlock telling me to "Get back in the apartment right now!"

"Snow is not good for me"

"Please Papa! Let's go back inside!"

Husband throwing a snowball at me after I antagonized him.

"Okay, you've had your fun, but I freezing. Inside time! Pwease?"

Snow love (daytime)

Snow love (night time)

Lots of Snow = Empty Streets

Matlock and Husband footprints.

Other pictures just to show you our snow Winter Wonderland!

I love the snow- it is so peaceful. I can hardly be mad that I am not back in Tennessee when I am walking around such a beautiful setting. More to come later!

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Hasta La Vista HoshUA

Warning, this post contains a lot of inside jokes. If you don't work with me (or even if you do) you might miss a lot of the funniness- but I will try to put inside jokes in italics. K, enjoy...

You may have heard me mention him once or twice.

You may have heard that, to him, I am so nice.

Sorry, I just wanted to make those rhyme. Actually, if we know anything at all it is that JoshUA (he hates being called Joshua, which is precisely why I call him that) has been my NRA punching bag (all in fun, of course) for the entire time I have known him.

Now, onto the fun stuff. Josh is leaving!!!! Yay!! Wait, did I sound too excited here? Sorry Hosh, I really am going to miss you (doubt it!).

To celebrate (I mean, to drown our sorrows), we did a little Goodbye Josh Happy Hour last night, and I have to say, it was quite the shindig. I will let the pictures speak for themselves (and my captions), but in between I will try to think of things I liked about Josh and list one with each picture.

1. I love the enthusiasm Josh's brings to every occassion, even at his own going away lunch he was the life of the party.

2. Josh always dresses his best on every occasion. He's all business.

3. He is super shy- especially when it comes to having his picture taken. You'll never see him posing for the camera.

4. He loves his fiance so much. At every turn temptation is staring him in the eye and he manages to hold it under control. Who could turn Nicole down?

Okay, enough about Josh. Now lets take a look at all those who love him. How is everyone else coping with the loss of Josh?

Kara screams:

Megs laughs is off (while Reed drinks away the pain):

Son is confused by the whole situation.

Some (Josh's boss Nick) choose to ignore the situation altogether.

And some like to take their frustration out through good ole recreational activities, like boxing.

Yes, Hosh, JoshUA, Joshie, Hey You, Grandpa, Old Man, Teresa, etc. You will be missed. But for now, I am just going to use the rest of this post for pictures of your going away Happy Hour that didn't fit into the storyline. Love you, mean it! (doubt it!)

Let me take this time to clear up any misconceptions anyone might have about JoshUA: NO, WE DID NOT KNOW EACH OTHER BEFORE I STARTED WORKING AT THE NRA (this is highly debated in our department).

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