Reassembly: Complete!

This morning Jason and I left the house at 6am and braved the semi-intense snowfall to get to his mom's house for our family Thanksgiving celebration. The girls (as you should know) have been there since Wednesday so it was great to see them again. I don't know if they were quite as happy as we were, since Grandma has like, 12 horses, but they seemed at least a tiny bit glad to see us again. Sheila and I went to Wal-Mart to get some last minute things and on the way down I saw a McCain/Palin poster, only someone had cut out the McCain part of it. That was pretty much super amusing. We got home, finished the meal, and we all sat down to the table to enjoy a nice, albeit belated, Thanksgiving meal. After dinner we decorated the tree and Brianna got bored about 10 minutes in. Great......we haven't got our tree up yet, what's she gonna do then? This is us in front of the tree just after it was decorated. If you look just to the right of the tree you'll see an oil painting portrait of a young girl holding a cat. That's Sheila when she was nine years old. The ones above the fireplace are Paul and Rita, her older siblings. There are also portraits of Paul Sr. and Betty, Jason's maternal grandparents. I think it's really neat that they had portraits done, especially since there's another of Sheila from when she's about 18 as well. She's standing in front of a horse, it's beautiful. About three thirty we left. The snow was starting to come down pretty hard and we wanted to get home before the roads iced over. When we got to Kansas City it slowed then stopped, yay! Safe driving is happy driving. I had Jason drop me off at the Westport Coffeehouse and I caught most of the Sketchy Thoughts rehearsal for the evening. We ran through the show twice, which is great since the show is next week. It's going to be an absolute blast, I'm really excited. When I got home I Dream of Jeannie was just about to come on, so Jason and I curled up comfortably on the couch to watch. Home sweet home, and everyone in the family back under one roof. *contented sigh*

What's in your head?

Today was pretty much pure bliss. I decided I would sleep until I woke up naturally, so at the crack of one pm I was up. Blame it on the cloudy skies outside, whatever, it was amazing. I had a nice leisurely lunch (well, what was I supposed to have? Breakfast?) and went downtown. I decided I would go to a few vintage shops, since I could browse without fear of children thinking they were hilarious for completely disappearing into clothing racks full of irreplaceable items that will, in fact, soil when touched by sticky little hands. (not that I let my kids go without washing their hands, but for whatever reason, they always manage to have peanut butter on them when hanging around expensive/one of a kind items.) After hitting four stores and browsing to my heart's content, I decided to do something I have never done before. I went to a coffee shop BY MYSELF and read for an hour. I go to coffee shops all the time, but I'm either with someone or I'm in a hurry to get somewhere. Today I decided I was just going to chill. It was wonderful. By the time I finished my mocha and decided it was time to skeedaddle, I had just enough time to get home, get ready, and leave with Jason for the theater. We had two really solid shows and it was an absolute blast. Weird coincidence, though, a guy had come to the classes earlier that day. Apparently he used to be in Funny Outfit waaaaaaaaay back in the day with Trish and Guy and all the improv masters of Kansas City. He also used to work at the airport with Jason! In fact, he's the guy that found the iPod and gave it to Jason to give to me. Funnily enough, before I knew he was the guy that found it, during the show I brought up the fact that my iPod had been found on an airplane. What are the odds? Seriously! So they talked for a while and the guy stayed through the second show then he and Jason exchanged numbers so they could stay in touch. After the shows Jason and I went to Yard House. They have half price appetizers on Saturday nights. Mmm.... It was so great. I've really, really enjoyed the last several days.

P.S.-First snow of the season today. Yay!

Home field advantage

This morning I faced down one of my greatest fears-large masses of people, single mindedly bent on the same prize as I. That's right. For the first time in my life I went Black Friday shopping. (ker-POW-ow-ow....) Usually when I get stuff for Christmas, I avoid things that most people are getting for one another, simply because my family doesn't need or want those things, and by Thanksgiving I'm usually done with the bulk of my shopping anyhow. This year was no exception on that front, but this year......this year I was after THE gift. A gift of such maximum awesomeness that those who behold it in all it's glory Christmas morning will weep from the sheer beauty of it's majesty. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what it is, because Jason is the only member of my immediate family who reads my blog. Last night I carefully set the stage, and this morning at 4:35 I was out of bed like a bullet fired from a gun. First stop, the kitchen, to flick the switch on the coffee maker, which I had set the night before. Then, leaving my pajamas on, I threw on a sweater, coat, and shoes. I filled my carafe, grabbed a book, and I was out the door before Jason got up for work at 4:45. I arrived at Target a few minutes later. The line was already pretty long and I had scoped the store Wednesday night before they closed. I knew full well they only had 20 of the item I was after. A voice in the back of my head told me to just go home, but, determined, I parked (pretty close, actually!) and walked toward the familiar red building. I took my place in line, cracked open my book, and snuggled up with my coffee. Not long after that several people began leaving the line. Apparently they thought the store opened at 5 instead of 6. Sweet. I moved up several feet. A news chopper flew overhead just before the store opened and it was then I realized that I was close to the front of a line that literally wrapped around the building! At 6 they opened the doors and we were off! Store clerks were standing just inside with an army of shopping carts. They'd throw one out and someone would catch it without even breaking stride! The mass of people headed off toward the back of the store (and I knew we were after the same item, it was all anyone could talk about!) but I knew my way around and headed off at Children's Clothing Pass, leaped a clothing rack and sprinted through the toy department until, behold, I was standing in front of my prey. There were three racks holding said object and most people were swarming the top two, so, still sprinting, I ducked down, grabbed one off the bottom shelf, and did an abrupt u-turn to the checkout counter. Another shopper was checking out at the same time as I, and with an identical object in his basket. We grinned at one another as I headed toward the exit. People were still swarming into the building as I left and they were locking and unlocking the doors to let people out so no one would try to squeeze in the exit. I walked, triumphant, back to my car. Some other would-be shoppers were standing near as I skipped through the parking lot, and one of them remarked, "Oh, she's happy, look at her!" It was only then that I realized I was literally chuckling to myself in a self-satisfied (and maybe a little smug) manner. I forced myself to be less creepy. I drove home, victorious, and went right back to sleep. During the afternoon I got all dolled up (I straightened my hair!) and Jason and I went to John and Denise's for an after Thanksgiving party. We had a good time watching TMX Elmo have a seizure on the coffee table. Have you seen that thing? It's like.....creepy entertaining! We were only able to stay for about an hour before heading off to the Westport Coffeehouse to see Tantrum and The Union. (Tantrum=improv comedy from KC, The Union=sketch comedy from Chicago) It was a stellar show, I laughed so hard. We all went to McCoy's afterward and boguarded the big room with the round tables so we could sit rather than hang out around the bar. Jason and I split a "Juicy Lucy." I'd heard of them from Jill Bernard, but never had one. It's a cheeseburger with the cheese INSIDE the burger. Oh man, it was greasy, heavenly goodness.

Food for thank

I tried to find one picture from today that completely encapsulated the spirit that is the great American Thanksgiving. Did I do a good job? In my quest to make a blogular time capsule of my life in 2008, there are very few pictures that I've taken that can be considered "timeless." I do believe this is one of them, and if it were black and white, it could very well have been taken in the 1930's for all you know...if you replace the paper plate with something slightly more permanent such as an actual plate. (Who wants all those dishes? Yurcch!) I went to Joe and Cherie's house at noon today and there was, what else, food, conversation, games, good friends, and warm feelings. After dinner we took a nice, long hike through the woods and up a couple HUGE hills. While we were entrenched in the wilderness we stumbled upon a ravine with some rusted metal stuck in it. Upon closer examination, the rusted metal was actually a really old car that looked as though a flood had overtaken it at one point and it was now stuck in the side of a hill with a tree growing right through the middle of it. How cool is that? We walked a bit further and found it's liscence plate embedded in the trunk of a tree, only a small corner visible. The plate was rusted and there was no paint on it, but the embossed letters clearly read, "Kansas 42." Awesome. We returned to the house and snacked on leftovers and had some pie. A little later Jason showed up, straight from work. He had his food and we all went upstairs to play games. My favorite was "Pictionary Telephone." Everyone writes a phrase or an action on a piece of paper then passes it to their right. That person then takes the phrase and draws a picture portraying it, then you pass the paper to the right again. You then look at what the person has drawn and write what you think is happening in the picture, then pass it again. After about three or four rounds of this you look at them all to see what has been drawn and written. It was great! My favorite was the one where someone had written, "I just stepped on a frog." The drawing was of a person stepping on a frog. From there, someone else wrote, "A frog getting stepped on." The drawing for that was of a disheveled looking stick figure standing on a frog. The next words were, "A hippie squishing a frog." This was mine to draw. I drew a guy with round mirrored glasses, a bandanna, long hair and a fringed vest. Peace sign on one hand, the other was a fist clenched around a frog, eyes bulging. There was stuff flying in the air, and the word, "SPLUUURGH!" Written in the air above. The last phrase said, "Hippie Dippie." About that time I did what I'm famous for. Something clumsy. This time I spilled an entire styrofoam cup of hot coffee all over myself, and it was time to leave. We said goodbye to our friends who so graciously opened their home to us, and I drove home like a madwoman to expedite the process of getting into pajamas and washing my soiled clothing.

Elipses...

Today I took the girls to Joanne's to get some green felt. I have two elf costumes to make! (Leigha did get a singing part, by the way) While we were out I thought I'd look for a sweater to go with a skirt I made. I want to wear the skirt to a couple post Thanksgiving parties we've been invited to and I wanted a basic cream colored v-neck sweater to go with it. Apparently that's a difficult item to find, short of dropping a load of money at J Crew or whatever. I went to Old Navy, Kohls, and then Target. Frustrated, I took the girls home, put Bri down for her nap and had some coffee. While she was asleep I looked at the JC Penney's website (I was determined. All the shops are going to be closed tomorrow, after all, and I want to wear this stuff Friday.) and found one that looked about right. Success! So after Bri woke up we went and I ended up snagging a cream colored sweater. About time! It's so hard to find basic stuff when you're looking with a specific style in mind. (Am I right, ladies? And what's the deal with airline peanuts?) Tonight Jason met his mom halfway between our houses to drop off the girls. Tim is going to be at her place and he wanted to see the girls and she's off the rest of the week, so they offered to take the kids off our hands. We think it's a great plan and since we'll be going down there Sunday it works out well for all of us. I went to rehearsal while he met up with her, and after he was done he came to the theater for the "post show we usually play games right now but tonight we're talking" gathering. It was really great having him there with us. I love hanging out with my friends but it was so much better being able to have Jason there as well. He enjoyed himself as well.

Thank you for reading between the lines.

I had a rough morning today. I got some unpleasant news just as I was really beginning my day and it pretty much tainted the rest of the day for me. Jason is awesome, though, and asked what I wanted to do to kind of shake it off. I asked him to take me to the Nelson Atkins museum of art. We went, and it was great, just, you know, CLOSED on Tuesdays. Dangnabbit. So we walked through the garden and teased the modern art sculptures, which is always fun. They're handy for relieving stress. Since we were right there we also hit the Plaza, which I just love. Brianna had to use the bathroom while we were in Pottery Barn so we went to the Gap, which is just two doors down and I know where the bathroom is in the building. As we were walking through I decided to check out the women's jeans since I just ruined my favorite pair (fyi-don't accidentally kneel on paint can lids. I'm just sayin'.) I've been wanting a pair that were medium blue with wide cuffs. As we were walking out...there they were. Beautiful, shiny, half off, and, oh yeah, MY SIZE! I grabbed them and started toward a fitting room. Jason looked at me like, "?" and I said, "Don't stop me, this could be denim destiny!" I went to the fitting room and tried them on. Ladies, you all know what it's like to find THE jeans. Comfy, not too tight, make you look skinny, and no muffin top whatsoever. Oh yeah, these were THE jeans all right. (half off, HALF OFF!) So we got them, putting a sizeable dent into the gloom clouding my day. (That's right, y'all. You can take my happy for a little while but I got some awesome jeans today, so there! In your face!) This evening Jason took the girls to their rehearsal while I went to mine. It was fun and we worked on some good stuff. As we were walking out I started talking with Jen about my frustrations and she suggested we get some coffee and talk about it, so I let Jason know and off we went. It was so, so good to talk with her about stuff. She is such a great friend and I really, really needed someone to talk to. Thanks for listening, Jen, you helped more than you know. I feel so lucky to have such great people in my life.

Why the Grinch stole Christmas.

Tonight was the girls' first rehearsal for the Christmas show. They are both going to be elves. Aww! Leigha tried out for a vocal solo tonight too, but we don't know yet if she got one. We dropped them off at the theater then went to the store to grab some milk, bread, and time without the kids, then went back to get them. When we walked into the theater all the kids were sitting on benches and the stage, being read to by a middle aged couple (I'm guessing they're Santa and Mrs. Claus.) Brianna saw us and immediately started waving and making faces at us. Oh boy. This bodes well for her behavior opening night...we tried to explain to her after they were done that you have to behave a certain way on stage but she was too wound up to listen. Perhaps we'll talk to her BEFORE rehearsal tomorrow.