My dad had to return to MN today. Pooh! It seems like he just got here, but someone has to make the big bucks and my dad has always been a good sacrificer in that respect. Actually his biggest sacrifice is that he bought my mom a place down here so she could be closer to me and he lets her stay here for a couple of months at a time! (Just curious: is it horribly obvious that I'm a spoiled only child?)
It's a well established fact that my mom and I are best friends (we talk on the phone constantly when we are apart and spend all of our time together when we are in the same vicinity), but most people probably don't realize that I'm just as close with my dad. We may not gab on the phone as often, but I'm definitely a daddy's girl. When I'm stressed, confused, and needing advice, I turn to my dad.
I think it all stems back from my childhood. My dad taught me to be strong and competitive from an early age (no letting me win when we were playing slap jack and my hands were a quarter of the size!). He was the one giving me pep talks at my dance competitions. Like when I was at Nationals and I danced my solo 18th out of 20 girls. Talk about intimidating, but he came over, told me not to worry about the other dancers and their hoards of screaming fans, and I felt better. (I also leaped and high kicked my way to a 1st place trophy, but that's another story...) And who did you think I got my love of the Vikings from??
My dad and I have a tradition when we are parting from each other. Of course it includes hugs, I love yous and all that, but the essential part is that we watch the other person drive away. (It's something my grandparents started actually. When we would leave their house, they would stand in front of the window and wave as we drove away.) Every night when I've left my parents place these past weeks, I've looked up to see my dad standing in the front window giving me the goodbye wave.
Last night was the most important one since it would be the last wave before he returned to MN. I got in the car, backed out of the driveway and looked up, but my dad wasn't there. The adult in me said, "oh it's a silly tradition, keep on driving." The little girl in me said, "I can't leave without seeing me daddy in the window!" I reached for my cell phone, but by then he was there. I should never have doubted him!
Thanks dad for the wave ...and everything else you do for me!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
Serbian Christmas
Merry Serbian Christmas!
I have to admit I don't know that much about Serbian Christmas even though I've been observing it/ celebrating it ever since I started dating my husband (which was back in high school as most of you know). My main reason for continuing with the tradition is I get to leave my tree up way into January (I'd do just about anything to gain myself a couple extra weeks).
I did a little wikipedia research the other day to at least be conversational about it and learned about some of the traditions observed by Serbian families. My favorite was the hiding of coins inside a special baked bread. If you found a coin in your piece it was considered good fortune. I thought I may have discovered the reason behind my husband's obsession with coin collecting, but he couldn't remember ever doing this. (Guess he really just is a geek at heart.)
I also discovered that we could be celebrating Serbian New Year...
so party at our place on the 14th?
I have to admit I don't know that much about Serbian Christmas even though I've been observing it/ celebrating it ever since I started dating my husband (which was back in high school as most of you know). My main reason for continuing with the tradition is I get to leave my tree up way into January (I'd do just about anything to gain myself a couple extra weeks).
I did a little wikipedia research the other day to at least be conversational about it and learned about some of the traditions observed by Serbian families. My favorite was the hiding of coins inside a special baked bread. If you found a coin in your piece it was considered good fortune. I thought I may have discovered the reason behind my husband's obsession with coin collecting, but he couldn't remember ever doing this. (Guess he really just is a geek at heart.)
I also discovered that we could be celebrating Serbian New Year...
so party at our place on the 14th?
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Nightmare
With one day to go until work resumes, one thought comes to mind: "I've had just about as much vacation as I can stand!" (Bonus points if you can name the movie.) Though my vacation was not exactly everything I hoped it would be, I am still looking forward to the return to normalcy.
If I keep telling myself that - I just might believe it by tomorrow!
My subconscious knows I'm lying. Last night I dreamt that when I returned to school, my class size had increased from 18 kindergartners to 34. Let's just say it wasn't pretty and was vaguely similar to the beginning of Kindergarten Cop.
Here's hoping that was only a ridiculous nightmare...
If I keep telling myself that - I just might believe it by tomorrow!
My subconscious knows I'm lying. Last night I dreamt that when I returned to school, my class size had increased from 18 kindergartners to 34. Let's just say it wasn't pretty and was vaguely similar to the beginning of Kindergarten Cop.
Here's hoping that was only a ridiculous nightmare...
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Emotional Roller Coaster
I'm stressed, exhausted, and a wee bit crabby so I'll be brief.
Thursday night my mother-in-law seemed to be doing great. She was in good spirits, ate a little bit etc. By Friday morning, however, she was already starting to not feel well. Things continued to get worse and last night she was unable to keep anything down. After considering many options, my in-laws decided to fly back to MN this morning (forgoing their trip to Alabama, where they had planned to stay for a couple of months, at least for now).
We scrambled around getting tickets, packing them up, and racing to the Miami airport so they could catch a direct flight back to Mpls. Their plan is to drive back to their hometown and check into the hospital tonight.
Both Jon and I launched into projects when we got home from the airport. He's still out working in the yard and I just finished cleaning the house and am almost done with the laundry. I think both of us wanted to be able to "control" something.
I will post more in the coming days as I get updates. Thanks for listening...
Thursday night my mother-in-law seemed to be doing great. She was in good spirits, ate a little bit etc. By Friday morning, however, she was already starting to not feel well. Things continued to get worse and last night she was unable to keep anything down. After considering many options, my in-laws decided to fly back to MN this morning (forgoing their trip to Alabama, where they had planned to stay for a couple of months, at least for now).
We scrambled around getting tickets, packing them up, and racing to the Miami airport so they could catch a direct flight back to Mpls. Their plan is to drive back to their hometown and check into the hospital tonight.
Both Jon and I launched into projects when we got home from the airport. He's still out working in the yard and I just finished cleaning the house and am almost done with the laundry. I think both of us wanted to be able to "control" something.
I will post more in the coming days as I get updates. Thanks for listening...
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Mom-in-law Update
She's back!! :)
Today my mother-in-law was finally released from the hospital. She came back to our house this afternoon, took a nice long bath, had a little lunch (she has to introduce food slowly and in little amounts) and then vegged out on the couch with me while we watched the Daytime talk shows.
She's in good spirits (as always) and is only upset that while she was in the hospital for a week it was 80 and sunny, whereas today it's 50 and windy!
Hopefully there's only good days ahead for her.
Welcome home!
Today my mother-in-law was finally released from the hospital. She came back to our house this afternoon, took a nice long bath, had a little lunch (she has to introduce food slowly and in little amounts) and then vegged out on the couch with me while we watched the Daytime talk shows.
She's in good spirits (as always) and is only upset that while she was in the hospital for a week it was 80 and sunny, whereas today it's 50 and windy!
Hopefully there's only good days ahead for her.
Welcome home!
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Terror of 2008
A terrifying thought has been gnawing at the back of my mind for the past couple of months. Once a week it is pushed to the forefront whence I allow myself a moment of indulgent hysteria before pushing it back to the recesses where all thoughts and memories too painful belong.
I think my favorite pair of jeans is starting to fall apart!
Each time they emerge from the laundry slightly more battered and tattered than the last, I feel a multitude of conflicting emotions: joy that they have survived to see yet another wearing… sorrow that they are one wash cycle closer to their eventual fate by the blades of my mother’s shears… guilt over the knowledge that less wear could prolong their denim existence… understanding that they would not be happy being confined to my closet shelf while missing out on all the fun places I would otherwise take them… and determination to make their remaining days as meaningful as possible by strutting around in them with pride.
If you’re a man, you may not fully understand the importance of a truly perfect pair of jeans so let me put it into a context you can comprehend. Women are obsessed with the way their butt looks. You know this. We ask you all the time. You dread the question, “Do these pants make my butt look fat?” If you’re one of those good guys, the keepers as we call you, you probably have a couple of stock answers on hand ready to reply to us when necessary.
These pants make that question irrelevant and unnecessary. These are the pants that set the butt standard against which all of my other pants are measured!
[Ladies, as an aside, I tend to go with the safer and more helpful “do these pants make my butt look good?” question hence eliminating the whole fat/ non-fat debate. Whether or not the butt looks good is the responsibility of the pants. We all know some pants make the butt look good and some do not. Whether or not the butt looks fat, well that responsibility falls back on me and has more do with the amount of ice cream I’ve consumed relative to the number of miles I’ve walked on the StairMaster. Considering I don’t own a StairMaster or have a gym membership anymore, this may soon become a depressing calculation. Thankfully my metabolism has not yet slowed to snail proportions.]
Back to the butt standard: butts are like snowflakes, each one unique and special in its own right (whether or not your bum is also glittering white like mine depends on whether or not you share my Scandinavian genes). As for the other kind of jean sharing, well that only works in the magical land of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Even sharing jean preferences is difficult. What makes your butt look cute may make mine look ridiculous and vice versa.
There are so many factors to be considered when setting the butt standard: the cut of the jeans (too loose and they might not be flattering, too tight and your butt will look fat whether it is or it isn’t); where they sit on your hips (too high and you’ll look like your wearing a girdle, too low and you’ll get into crack territory); and most infuriating, the pockets! There are multiple facets to be considered when it comes to pockets. The shape, size and placement of the pockets will give your butt various looks - some flattering and some horrifying. They can’t be too small or too large, too high or too low, too narrow or too wide. I feel like the Goldilocks of jean pockets searching for that which is just right.
You might think it easier to remove the pocket factor all together, but going pockectless is a little like mooning the whole world. (I tend to hear Kramer from Seinfeld in my mind, “I’m out there Jerry and I’m loving it!” True he was talking about an entirely different kind of “out there,” but I still feel it applies.) Pocketless exposure takes a courage I only possess on rare skinny days… and even then I keep walking and standing to a minimum, preferring to keep those cheeks pressed and hidden in the upholstery.
You can see why the idea of having to replace my favorite pair of jeans sets me into a panic. Though I’m not ready to give up on them quite yet, I need to face the reality that 2008 will probably be their last year.
I guess I need to add one more resolution to my list (worded appropriately to ensure success):
- I will not find the perfect pair of jeans
There. I have all year to work on that goal so I'm not going to stress about it again. Today my fave jeans and I deserve some shopping and fun!
I think my favorite pair of jeans is starting to fall apart!
Each time they emerge from the laundry slightly more battered and tattered than the last, I feel a multitude of conflicting emotions: joy that they have survived to see yet another wearing… sorrow that they are one wash cycle closer to their eventual fate by the blades of my mother’s shears… guilt over the knowledge that less wear could prolong their denim existence… understanding that they would not be happy being confined to my closet shelf while missing out on all the fun places I would otherwise take them… and determination to make their remaining days as meaningful as possible by strutting around in them with pride.
If you’re a man, you may not fully understand the importance of a truly perfect pair of jeans so let me put it into a context you can comprehend. Women are obsessed with the way their butt looks. You know this. We ask you all the time. You dread the question, “Do these pants make my butt look fat?” If you’re one of those good guys, the keepers as we call you, you probably have a couple of stock answers on hand ready to reply to us when necessary.
These pants make that question irrelevant and unnecessary. These are the pants that set the butt standard against which all of my other pants are measured!
[Ladies, as an aside, I tend to go with the safer and more helpful “do these pants make my butt look good?” question hence eliminating the whole fat/ non-fat debate. Whether or not the butt looks good is the responsibility of the pants. We all know some pants make the butt look good and some do not. Whether or not the butt looks fat, well that responsibility falls back on me and has more do with the amount of ice cream I’ve consumed relative to the number of miles I’ve walked on the StairMaster. Considering I don’t own a StairMaster or have a gym membership anymore, this may soon become a depressing calculation. Thankfully my metabolism has not yet slowed to snail proportions.]
Back to the butt standard: butts are like snowflakes, each one unique and special in its own right (whether or not your bum is also glittering white like mine depends on whether or not you share my Scandinavian genes). As for the other kind of jean sharing, well that only works in the magical land of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Even sharing jean preferences is difficult. What makes your butt look cute may make mine look ridiculous and vice versa.
There are so many factors to be considered when setting the butt standard: the cut of the jeans (too loose and they might not be flattering, too tight and your butt will look fat whether it is or it isn’t); where they sit on your hips (too high and you’ll look like your wearing a girdle, too low and you’ll get into crack territory); and most infuriating, the pockets! There are multiple facets to be considered when it comes to pockets. The shape, size and placement of the pockets will give your butt various looks - some flattering and some horrifying. They can’t be too small or too large, too high or too low, too narrow or too wide. I feel like the Goldilocks of jean pockets searching for that which is just right.
You might think it easier to remove the pocket factor all together, but going pockectless is a little like mooning the whole world. (I tend to hear Kramer from Seinfeld in my mind, “I’m out there Jerry and I’m loving it!” True he was talking about an entirely different kind of “out there,” but I still feel it applies.) Pocketless exposure takes a courage I only possess on rare skinny days… and even then I keep walking and standing to a minimum, preferring to keep those cheeks pressed and hidden in the upholstery.
You can see why the idea of having to replace my favorite pair of jeans sets me into a panic. Though I’m not ready to give up on them quite yet, I need to face the reality that 2008 will probably be their last year.
I guess I need to add one more resolution to my list (worded appropriately to ensure success):
- I will not find the perfect pair of jeans
There. I have all year to work on that goal so I'm not going to stress about it again. Today my fave jeans and I deserve some shopping and fun!
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year!
They say the person you ring in the new year with will be the person you're with the whole year through. Do you believe this is true? I'm a little worried, you see, because my first kiss of the new year did not come from my husband. We'd planned it to be together. We were counting down and waiting for that special moment. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1...and then that sly dog Scooter (Jess and Jerry's beagle) jumped into my lap and french kissed me right at 0. So hopefully that rule doesn't apply to dogs, but either way it appears Scooter and I are taking our relationship to a new level in 2008.
Last night's Froydstravaganza was the perfect way to say goodbye to 2007 and hello to 2008: good food, great friends, sparkling drinks and spectacular fireworks. We're not talking wimpy bottle rockets here, these were the real deal. Even people across the canal were exclaiming how beautiful they were. It was my mom's quest to decide on the prettiest firework so Jerry, our fire master (who loves blowing things up...and bacon), announced each firework to her like it was a vintage wine. You'll be happy to know that she decided she likes the straight up Crackle variety (no snap and pop for her!).
In honor of starting fresh in the new year, we allowed each person the chance to pick one thing they wanted us to retire for the year. Since I'm not allowed to bring them up anymore, I'll just say some people retired stories they don't want to be teased about and others nicknames they don't want to hear again. Our hope is after the year-long moratorium maybe the gang will forget about them entirely and they shall never be mentioned again. I'll let you know what happens in 2009...
As for resolutions, well we all know they are cursed. I know that whatever I say I'm going to do the opposite will happen, so I've decided to rephrase my resolutions this year.
In 2008,
- I will gain 5 pounds
- I will take Rio for less walks
- I will work more on the weekends
Happy New Year!
Last night's Froydstravaganza was the perfect way to say goodbye to 2007 and hello to 2008: good food, great friends, sparkling drinks and spectacular fireworks. We're not talking wimpy bottle rockets here, these were the real deal. Even people across the canal were exclaiming how beautiful they were. It was my mom's quest to decide on the prettiest firework so Jerry, our fire master (who loves blowing things up...and bacon), announced each firework to her like it was a vintage wine. You'll be happy to know that she decided she likes the straight up Crackle variety (no snap and pop for her!).
In honor of starting fresh in the new year, we allowed each person the chance to pick one thing they wanted us to retire for the year. Since I'm not allowed to bring them up anymore, I'll just say some people retired stories they don't want to be teased about and others nicknames they don't want to hear again. Our hope is after the year-long moratorium maybe the gang will forget about them entirely and they shall never be mentioned again. I'll let you know what happens in 2009...
As for resolutions, well we all know they are cursed. I know that whatever I say I'm going to do the opposite will happen, so I've decided to rephrase my resolutions this year.
In 2008,
- I will gain 5 pounds
- I will take Rio for less walks
- I will work more on the weekends
Happy New Year!
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