As much as I’ve been Christmas-obsessed lately, I want to take a moment to remember Thanksgiving and focus on the things that I am thankful for in my life.

Just some of things I can think of right now:

My husband. Even when I’m having a bad day, he always reminds me that he’s my biggest fan and that no matter what, he loves me. Even when it feels like the rest of the world doesn’t, I know he does.

My dog. He’s always there for a snuggle and NEVER gets sick of being petted. Another one that loves me no matter what.  

My home. It’s not perfect and I don’t plan to stay in it for 30 years, or even another 3 years, but as far as starter homes go, I love it. I like taking good care of it. And I hope that whoever owns it after us takes just as good care of it. There’s a lot of love in that house.

Food on the table. Food pantries are busier than ever (I should know, my aunt works for one) and I’m so grateful that I’m not someone who has to visit them and instead, can find ways to contribute to them. Such as giving a bag full of canned goods to the Boy Scouts this weekend when they come around to collect their bags for their “Scouting for Food” drive. No one in America should ever go hungry.

My job. And not just because I have a job, but because I have a job that – despite any previous complaints you may have heard from me – I truly do love. I conduct a lot of intern interviews from time to time and I’m always reminded of how I felt, sitting in that interview seat, praying to God to please let me land this internship and eventually, this job, and I will never ask for anything ever again Amen. I remember that prayer, and I am still just as thankful as I was the day I signed on the dotted line more than five years ago. Though a raise never hurts.

And lastly, I am thankful for Pandora, because not only do they play pleasant Xmas music that makes me happy, but they even play Xmas music by HANSON, which is all kinds of awesome. Heh.

Progress continues on the Great Bathroom Floor Retiling Project of 2009.

Here’s where we were Sunday afternoon, around 5pm.

And here’s where we are now:

Still left to do:

• Grout
• Install floor/wall border
• Install threshold
• Replace toilet and sink

I have a nice long list of dos and don’ts when it comes to tiling. Lessons learned the hard way. But despite all the challenges, I have to say that so far, I’m very happy with the way the floor is turning out. Hopefully this weekend I’ll be able to share final before-and-after photos. And my mom won’t have to walk up two flights of stairs to use the bathroom during her visit.

Last night we hosted the neighborhood Saturday Night Bonfire. We’ve only officially hosted it maybe one or two other times, and we really didn’t expect to host it this week, but it was getting late and no one had really offered so we stepped up to the plate. After the last one, I now realize it’s a wasted effort to spend much time cleaning only to have your house practically trashed by the army of children (ages 4-12) running wild inside while all the adults hang out around the firepit outside. But, at least it serves to be great birth control.

Case in point: two little girls run up to me and ask me to make them some popcorn. Okay, easy enough. I make it and dish it out in little PLASTIC bowls (I at least know that much about little kids). I go about my business refilling my drink, making dip, setting up a DVD for the boys downstairs, when I suddenly hear “Hey, let’s play kick the popcorn!” Before I could yell “NOOOO!” and run in slow motion up the stairs to stop them, I see the little plastic bowl filled with popcorn go sliding across my hardwood floor, crashing into the tiny foot of a little 5-year-old girl, spilling the entire bowl onto the floor (thank goodness it was popcorn and not something like spaghetti). And then the little girls laugh, because apparently popcorn scattering all over the floor is hilarious.

About a half hour later, I’m called into the house because I’m told one of the girls knocked a picture frame over on the couch. The couch is soft so I think it’s no big deal. I walk upstairs and was suddenly completely confused because all my picture frames were displayed nicely on the end tables. And then I looked up. It wasn’t just some little picture frame that was knocked onto the couch, like I’d been told, but the giant art work that hangs ABOVE THE COUCH was knocked sideways, hanging by a thread, almost crashing to the floor or on top of some kid’s head. Lesson learned: even pictures that are hung 5 ft in the air, mounted above a couch, are fair game in the war between little girls and breakable things.

But rather than chase other people’s kids around all night, fetching popcorn, and chips, and marshmallows, and drinks, and searching for ”things that aren’t breakable and might be considered toys if you think creatively”, I’ve found it works much better to just add another shot of vodka to my drink and go out to the firepit, completely ignoring the tornado that is occurring inside my house at that moment.

This tactic doesn’t work so well for my husband. He has a much different way of handling other people’s kids. But before I get into that, I should give you a little background. You see, my husband likes to tell people that I hate children. He says that I don’t like kids, that I don’t want kids, and that he will one day be the one initiating the whole “let’s have kids” conversation because I never will. Of course, he exaggerates a tad, but he truly believes that he is way more into kids than I am. And therefore, much better at handling them. Well, we all know that saying, something about actions speaking louder than words?

My patient, child-loving husband, found himself cornered by two little girls begging him for marshmallows (ZOMG! MARSHMALLOWS!) So what does he do? He tells them to sit – on the floor, in the kitchen – and tosses marshmallows at them like treats. I think my poor husband has confused little children with furry pets. The funniest part? The girls actually did it and seemed to enjoy it. But when one marshmallow fell to the floor and a little girl scurried to pick it up, I’m proud to say that my husband was thoughtful enough to tell her not to eat. Instead, he told her, to go downstairs and give it to her brother.

A co-worker of mine recently went to Spain with his wife (before she got pregnant. Or maybe that’s when she got pregnant. Hm.) But I was browsing their pics on Facebook and I felt a pang of jealousy, as is often common when I look at someone’s pictures from any vacation that involves crossing an ocean. It’s not like we don’t travel and take vacations. We do. But the window of travel opportunity is getting smaller as we think about the future. There are so many places I want to see now, as opposed to when we’re older, and I just get overwhelmed thinking that we only have a couple more years to do these things.

If I had to rank them in order, the top five places on my must-see list include:

Scotland

London

Ireland

France (not just Paris though. I’m more interested in seeing the smaller towns.)

Switzerland (or Germany, Belgium, Northern Italy…just someplace that looks like THIS)

I’d also love to go back to Spain and not only explore Barcelona more, but also visit Madrid. And I’d like to go back to Italy, spend more time in Rome and Tuscany, and maybe see Venice or Milan. So many places to see!

Of course, come January, I’ll be craving the beach instead. My top five beach escapes would have to be:

Maui (we went to Oahu in May, LOVED it, and now want to see the rest of the islands, starting with Maui)

Costa Rica (with beaches, volcanoes, rainforest and water falls, we’d never get bored)

St. Thomas

Puerto Rico

Turks and Caicos – just because all the celebs go there.

::sigh::

Hey, um, you guys? Do you realize Thanksgiving is exactly two weeks from today? Crazy right?

And so let us commence with the running around all scatter-brained and busy-like.

I have a menu to plan for 8 people, which isn’t an army by any means, but it’s a bit of a challenge when three of those 8 people are diabetic. So recipes have to be adjusted, carbs need to be watched, and Splenda needs to be purchased by the bag-fulls.

And then there’s the decorating. I still have yet to put away my minimal Halloween decorations, and the Fall things will stick around until Black Friday, but sometimes I gaze longingly at home magazines featuring gorgeous dining room place settings and think that maybe I should try to do something like that. Then I realize that my table only seats six and the men only sit at the table to say grace and eat quickly before heading back  downstairs to sit in front of the big TV watching football and Lord only knows what else. So a buffet style meal has always been the tradition at my house.

So instead of wasting my time worrying about table settings, I’ll focus on the menu. We’re pretty traditional around here so some of the staple items will be: turkey, stuffing (my mom’s recipe), green bean casserole (trying a new Weight Watchers recipe), hashbrown casserole (a light version I made last year that seems to be a big hit), sweet potato casserole, pumpkin and pecan pies, rolls, and since we typically eat around 3 or 4, we’ll have some appetizers like shrimp cocktail and cheese and crackers or chips and dip. And let’s not forget the wine! I bought three bottles in Napa exclusively for the holidays.

And now…I’m hungry.

Tonight after work, I met up with one of my best girlfriends for dinner. She’s shockingly single, despite being beautiful, intelligent, and sweet as can be, but thems the breaks I guess. So whenever we go out, I like to pretend that I’m her “wing man.” Not so much because I think she needs to hook a man right away, but more because I’ve been out of the game for quite some time and well, it’s kind of fun to talk to strange men when you don’t have to worry about ever seeing them again. (Or at least you hope not. I stay away from anyone who looks like a potential stalker. Not that I’m profiling.)

So we go to this brew pub I’ve never been to before and after our meal, as we’re finishing our drinks, two seemingly single guys walk in, sit down at the table behind us, and order drinks. Empty bar + beer + two young women + two young men = lots of exchanged glances. We keep looking at them, they keep looking at us, and it’s only a matter of time before someone says SOMETHING. Until…

The guy in my line of sight does something, well, hilarious. He takes off his jacket and, wearing a short-sleeved shirt, puts his hands behind his head and starts FLEXING! Oh yes. I had to look twice because I just couldn’t believe it. I break out into hysterical laughter and tell my friend who eventually turns to look. More laughing ensues. A minute later, we look again, and his arms are down but his sleeves are pulled up, ABOVE HIS SHOULDERS.

I realize I’ve been out of the dating game for a long time, and I’ve never been very good at reading male body language, but this time, I think the message was pretty clear: LADIES, LOOK AT MY ARMS. YOU LIKE? YES? WELL WELCOME TO THE GUN SHOW.

I wanted to ask him if that trick ever actually worked, but decided against making real conversation for fear he would interpret it as flirting so we headed home instead. I bet he wears a lot of Ed Hardy too.

It took awhile, but I’m pretty sure almost my entire family is on Facebook now. A couple of weeks ago, my mom and sisters in law joined, and just last week, my mother-in-law joined. On one hand, I’m glad because now I can post family pics and they can all see them easily without me having to send them to a separate photo album, make them log in, etc. They’re also more apt to keep in touch this way. I get Facebook messages from my oldest SIL at least once a week, and just this past Monday she sent an adorable card in the mail with a picture of the two of us from her most recent visit.  Because they all live so far away, we aren’t very close because we only see each other a couple of times each year. But now, it’s like Facebook is that ever-present reminder that hey, you have a SIL! And cousins! And old high school friends! It’s kind of nice.

It’s still a little weird having all my friends, co-workers and family mixed into one big bucket though. Like when I post something to my updates and my aunt Jean comments, my co-worker comments, and my high school friend comments – all on the same status update. For so long I’ve just had separate social circles, and even though they’re still separate, it’s strange to see them all comment on the same post. I guess it gives me a taste of what it would be like if all of them read this blog , which would take much more effort on their parts but some would, if I would share the address. And that would just be weird. I don’t think I’d like it at all. My mom read my old blog and I hated when she’d bring it up in conversation, like “I read your blog. That wasn’t a very good picture of John Stamos today.” Harmless stuff, but it drove me nuts.

Do all of your family and friends read your blog? Has it been weird for you? Or is it surprisingly cool?

The shiny new credit cards finally came in the mail on Saturday (you know, after my unfortunate misplaced wallet incident last Monday) and they’ve just been burning a hole through  my purse all weekend. Finally today I couldn’t stand it any longer and so after work, I went to DSW to hunt for some new shoes because peep toe pumps are not acceptable fall footwear. Not to mention the last time I had a pedicure I think Bush was still in office.

So off I went and I ended up scoring an adorable pair of black, round toe Kenneth Cole pumps (I would show you a picture but they don’t seem to be offered online.) But what I was really looking for was a pair of dressy brown heels (comfortable, yet cute and appropriate for a suit). I ended up finding a pair of Nine West heels in the clearance section but even on clearance they were still $70 and I remembered DSW was having a clearance sale today so I waited. Only I couldn’t find them online once I got home. So boo to that. But I found a $10 coupon that I forgot to use so maybe I’ll go back and snag them for $60 instead of $70 later this week.

I also tried to find a new wallet but didn’t see anything that I loved, so I decided to wait and only walked out with one pair of shoes when I really expected to walk out with three and a new wallet. When that happens, I don’t feel like I’ve used up all of shopping mojo. But it was late and I was hungry so I came home and realized that hey, online shopping can be almost as fulfilling. I fired up the laptop and before I knew it, I had placed four different orders for Xmas presents, all for the hubby. Most of the time I wait until the last-minute which makes special ordering anything incredibly difficult to purchase because I’ve usually missed all the shipping deadlines. But not this time! I had four things I needed to special order and so, I did. And I am just so proud of myself that I won’t be scanning the gift bins at Kohl’s or JC Penney’s for the generic change caddy or boxed tie or pocket knife/flashlight/transformer action figure all-in-one thingy-ma-bob. Not that those aren’t nice things, but he can always tell that I didn’t put a lot of thought into it and just needed to buy something for him to open. In my defense, he is incredibly tough to shop for. NOTHING excites him. Unless I want to spend thousands of dollars on a surprise vacation and even then his first response would probably be “but I can’t take off work” followed by “you spent HOW much?” So, mama needed to get a little more creative this year.

Chances are, he’ll probably guess three out of the four gifts, or maybe even all four, but that’s okay. I’m just really excited about having great ideas for once and officially starting my Xmas shopping about six weeks in advance. Have you started Xmas shopping yet?

Out of the list of things I wanted to accomplish this weekend, I’d say I did a fairly decent job of tackling the majority of the things on my to-do list:

• Bathroom – made progress; should finish tiling this coming weekend.
• Laundry – still in the dryer, but half way there
• Cooking – post roast was dry, but still edible
• Baking – Muffins are still delish
• Shelf – check
• Driver’s license – check
• Shopping – Negative. I’ll probably go one night this week.
• Deep cleaning and organizing – Also negative though I did tidy up the kitchen and living room a bit.
• Raking leaves – 10 bags done and I was maybe half way there but then yesterday afternoon a ton more dropped from the giant oak tree and looks as if I didn’t do anything. Lesson learned: Wait until ALL the leaves fall from the tree.
• Power washing – nope
• Gym – Ha!
• Visited grandparents and played with the dog – YES! Ended up spending the night at my grandparents’ house Saturday night and was there until Sunday afternoon. I took Champ with me and though I think he’d rather have been home, he still had a good time playing with Tubby. Who is Tubby,  you ask?

This is Tubby:

Flailing his chubby little feet, like a turtle on its back.

I didn’t sleep very well at my grandparents’ house, for whatever reason, and so Sunday I was EXHAUSTED. I ran a few errands, showered, and then curled up on the couch with not one, but two movies. Who cares if it was only 4:30?

First up was Confessions of a Shopaholic. TOTAL chick flick. Despite my recent shopping urges, I’m really not much of a shopper so I couldn’t quite relate but that’s okay. Then I watched The Proposal with Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock. I didn’t think it would be very good but, you guys, it’s funny. I think I’ll watch it again, but this time with my husband because I think he’ll actually like it. (I will spare him the girlishness of Confessions of a Shopaholic though.)

And then I went to bed. At 9:30 pm. Because I’m awesome like that.

So far today I…

Went to the DMV to get my replacement driver’s license. I’m so glad they didn’t make me take another picture. I actually like the picture that was already on there (taken just days after our honeymoon, so I’m skinny(er) and tan.)

Also stopped by the Post Office to pick up holiday stamps. Yes, they’re out and I can’t wait to mail my Xmas cards this year!

Stopped by Home Depot to pick up more patch and level mix for the bathroom. Put on another layer where it’s still uneven and crossing my fingers that I only have to use it one more time.

Did a load of dishes and tidied up the kitchen.

And this:

If you didn’t count, there are 10 bags crammed full of leaves. I spent at least 3 hours blowing and raking and bagging. My back hurts, my hands hurt, and tomorrow, my legs will hurt. And that was just 3/4 of the front and side yard. There’s still at least 5 bags worth out front. I didn’t even attempt the back, though I think I might take the easy way out and just mow over those since they’re not as thick. See?

And Champ says hi.