Saturday, December 09, 2000

This house is just crazy when all three kids are here. It's a fun kinda crazy though. Ben has been chasing the cat all through the house yelling "Sha-o!!!" Shadow runs as fast as he can, jumping any obstacles in the way and knocking stuff over. Poor cat doesn't stand a chance with three of them running around.

Speaking of crazy... I sent Al a song this morning that I thought he'd get a kick out of. The crazy nut called my voice mail and sang the entire thing. He claimed he had a cold so I was expecting something quite nasal. He has a wonderful voice and sang it beautifully. Thank you, Al for starting my day off on the right note : )

posted by Lisa 12/09/2000 02:35:00 PM | link it |

Supposedly there is a big storm heading toward us but they are not giving any amounts. That means either we are really gonna get it or we'll get nothing but more cold. I really want the storm but pray that people use their heads. Seems like it's a trend around here to head out to Des Moines as soon as they predict treacherous driving.

posted by Lisa 12/09/2000 11:12:00 AM | link it |

Thursday, December 07, 2000

Since I was a little girl my mother has rode my butt about insisting on having brand name stuff. She says I'm spoiled and that you can get things just as good only much cheaper if you ignore the brands. While this is true up to a point, I maintain that I have a sweater I bought in 1990 at The Gap for almost a hundred bucks. That sweater still looks and feels new. A $20 Walmart sweater will last one season, maybe two if it's not worn often. Same goes with jeans... buy Lawmans or Levis and wear them for years. Buy an off brand and you'll replace them in a few months.

When Christopher said he wanted a scooter for Christmas I said "If you get him one, make sure it's a Razor." Of course that led to another one of our saving money discussions. She was finding other brands for under $75 and to her they looked just as good. I went ahead and bought the Razor myself in order to avoid further discussion on the matter. Now, I have concrete evidence to back me up. The lesser brands are breaking and causing injury. Ha!

posted by Lisa 12/07/2000 11:12:00 PM | link it |

As if I weren't already wired enough, Jish talked me into getting voicemail from uReach. Now ya'll can leave me voice messages... can't imagine why anyone would want to but it's free so what the hell! My number is 877-576-0180. I am terrible at voice messaging stuff.. I either sound like I'm mad or I'm over the top with cheer. Someday when I have a little more ambition and creativity, I'll change it. It does sound better than my home answering machine though.

I have three more Christmas gifts to purchase and my shopping will be done. I just received an email from epinions saying they've put together a Holiday Gift Guide. Crap! Where was that when I first started this shopping fiasco??

posted by Lisa 12/07/2000 06:30:00 PM | link it |

Wednesday, December 06, 2000

Regarding me not liking Todd driving fast at work - He has four speeds that I've been able to define:

1. I'm driving on highway 2 = 55-65 MPH
2. I'm going along highway 2 = 65-85 MPH
3. I'm running on highway 2 = 85-100 MPH
4. I'm jammin' down highway 2 = 100-140 MPH in which case he is in deep shit when he gets home.

"Jammin'" scares the absolute hell out of me. I know he's trained to drive fast. I know his car is made to take one helluva impact. I don't care about any of that. I want him to come home to me at the end of each shift with all of his skin intact and no bones broken.

posted by Lisa 12/06/2000 10:15:00 PM | link it |

I've been doing a lot of shopping online the past week and am very happy with the folks at Impact Guns. This is my first year of shopping for a cop so I am struggling quite a bit. Everything I think would be cool needs special instruction of some kind, like width of duty belt, color of snaps or something that I just don't know off the top of my head. If I asked him then he'd want to know why I was asking and the surprise would be gone. I finally found a couple of things at Impact Guns and wouldn't ya know, they didn't have exactly what I wanted. The great part is they exchanged email with me until I did decide what I wanted and said they'd order the original item and hold it so if he didn't like what I did get, I could exchange it for my first choice. How cool is that??

Also, JCPenney has a wonderful express checkout feature where they store all of your info including credit card. You just pick your items, hit the express checkout and you are done. No need to confirm shipping or billing or anything. Just hit the button and a minute later you get an email saying your order is being processed. They have a lot of good stuff on clearance so I've been returning every day to see what's new. Pretty handy not to have to dig out my credit card every time I see something.

posted by Lisa 12/06/2000 08:56:00 PM | link it |

This is pretty interesting. I found part of it particularly amusing... "Christmas in the 1990s is both a family and a community celebration....Entire neighborhoods are decorated with magnificent Christmas lights and displays, and Americans have developed a new Christmas tradition -- slow drives through neighborhoods to marvel at the displays." We've been doing that around Iowa for decades. Ha! I may have found proof that we were ahead of the times once!

Seriously, Christopher and I drove around looking at lights a week or so ago and there are some fabulous displays already. You won't find any at our house this year. Todd's sister told a horrible story over Thanksgiving about a guy falling from his roof while stringing lights and he is now paralyzed. I think that was just the excuse Todd was looking for.

posted by Lisa 12/06/2000 07:28:00 PM | link it |

This picture is for Kaycee because she'll need a chuckle when she is not sedated. See, Kaycee and her mom both think my son is just so cute and adorable. Well, he is... except for when things like the blue foot happen. Here's the story:

I am running late for work one morning this summer and I snag my tennis shoes and find there's a roller ball pen stuck in my shoe. Christopher says he put it in there as a joke and he's all doubled over, snickering like 7 year olds do. I grabbed the pen and chucked it off to the side, put on my shoe and went to work. I go barefoot at home so the first thing in the door that evening I took off my shoes and socks. My white sock was bright blue on the end. I stuck my hand into my shoe and the toe was full of ink. I found the pen where I'd tossed it that morning and it was completely empty. Apparently, he jammed it in there hard enough to depress the ball and all the ink seeped out and soaked up in the lining. My foot had the prettiest blue bottom for at least three weeks. Todd took the picture after I had scrubbed it with bleach water so you can imagine what it looked like initially. Of course Christopher really thought it was funny then. Still think he's cute and adorable??? Yeah, me too! : )

posted by Lisa 12/06/2000 06:59:00 PM | link it |

I love my brother Bob.. he is such a dork. So much so that I have referred to him as "the moron" for as far back as I can remember. Our phone conversation today:

Bob: I wish you had some time off so you could go with me to Colorado skiing.
Me: I won't have time off until summer.
Bob: December? That's next month ya dipshit!
Me: Not December - I said SUMMER!! and December is this month.... ya dipshit!

He is such an airhead.

posted by Lisa 12/06/2000 03:50:00 PM | link it |

It snowed a little... can still see grass in a few spots but I suppose I'll count it. I still have a little bit of a headache left over from yesterday. I'll have to be careful today or it will turn into another bad one. By the time I got to bed last night it hurt so bad I wanted to just scream. I was lying perfectly still, wishing it away when this exchange took place.

Todd: You get to feeling better, okay?
Me: I hope so... I can't think I'll still have it in the morning.
Todd: It could happen. You're stubborn.

posted by Lisa 12/06/2000 08:29:00 AM | link it |

Tuesday, December 05, 2000

I posted two long entries last night and blogger ate 'em up. I have a lot in my head right now that I'd like to dump here but my head hurts so bad I can barely stand to look at the screen.

It has turned cold outside again but still no measurable snow. My best friend in North Carolina got 8 inches of the fluffy stuff. When she moved there she bragged that she wouldn't have to put up with snow anymore. Ha! She took my snow with her. Last winter when she moved, it snowed a huge amount within a month of her moving. Same thing this year.. she got the first snow. ugh.

Beef stir fry for supper tonight then hopefully an early bedtime. I have been cold and beseiged by this headache all damn day.

posted by Lisa 12/05/2000 07:32:00 PM | link it |

Monday, December 04, 2000

I have Christmas carols stuck in my head today. Some of them I only partially remember but I found the North Pole has the words to most of them.

posted by Lisa 12/04/2000 05:00:00 PM | link it |

Sunday, December 03, 2000

I just met the ex's girlfriend. They've been together longer than Todd and I have and I'm just now meeting her. It's almost like he's been trying to keep us from seeing each other. Anyway, met her and she seemed really nice. Whether or not I like her is not the issue... I know she is good to Christopher and that's all that matters to me. I do think I would like her if I were around her any length of time at all though. I was so afraid he'd jump from one sleaze to another but so far he hasn't done that. I guess I didn't give him enough credit.

Now that all three kids are back in the house, the volume has kicked up considerably. They have this Christmas tree that blows snow and plays the most obnoxious music. The kids love it.... Todd just shut it off. The big scrooge. hehe... I would've done it if he hadn't. It's one of those Christmas novelties that is cool for the first minute then you start yanking and hiding batteries. Much like a Furby.

posted by Lisa 12/03/2000 12:45:00 PM | link it |