Ornament Swap

More than a month ago I told you about an Ornament Swap I participated in through Micaela at Dolce Vita...



I was paired with the most lovely lady, Ryan at AmericanBridget (Jones) and this is what she sent!



A pomegranate martini ornament because we both love them! :) AJ was putting this on our naked tree as soon as we got it! And then he'd take it off and put it back on and so on...




And these two little twins because they are indigo! I am going to think of these as Ryan and Nicole. While we were paired up in this super awesome swap we also were paired up to play in the Rose Bowl! Not Ryan and I obviously but our two teams! Wisconsin plays TCU, Ryan's alma mater, on January 1, 2011 at the Rose Bowl. Which Steve and I are going to. Definitely check out both Ryan and Micaela's blogs. Very cool chicas. ;) Ryan also sent AJ some sour gummy bears and a Santa Pez. I wish I would have recorded AJ eating the gummies since his face was absolutely priceless! :) Ryan has a white and silver theme going on in her house so I made a beaded snowflake ornament (a little WI in TX!) and a set of martini notecards. Thanks Ryan (and Micaela!) for a truly fun (not bizarro! ;)) swap!

A totally random list of going ons in my life right now...

* I have been a very bad blogger, etsy shop owner, email returner, etc. It's not because I want to be! I have been so busy with everything that I haven't been able to do anything!

* I have been summoned for jury duty next week (13-17). The week before Christmas! Hopefully, I won't have to serve. Do you know what a pain in the rear it is to figure out potential child care for a week when you are a stay at home mom? My mom may have to come down (an hour her and back) 3 days and one of my sitters took 2 days. Figuring out how to get AJ to and from school and skipping his last gymnastics and swimming classes for awhile... Grrrrr.

* We have tickets to the Rose Bowl! We fly out of Minneapolis a couple of days before and come back a couple of days later. I hope it doesn't snow buckets when we have to drive 3 hours to the airport and back. December/January in Wisconsin/Minnesota can be fierce like that. I was once in Florida over the New Year and couldn't get back to Minneapolis for 3 days after my flight was supposed to come back!

* Speaking of winter weather... we got SOCKED yesterday. At least a foot is on the ground and then add some high winds and you get 2-3 foot drifts. We were supposed to go to a holiday cocktail party a block and a half away. We would have gone last night (probably would have snowshoed there considering there were 300 people invited to a house that has very little parking and snowplows probably would have schmucked the cars that were in the street...) except for the fact that we had to pick up and drop off our babysitter in near whiteout conditions. Oh well. We took our family Christmas picture yesterday in the blizzard and it turned out really cute! (I will post it after the holidays) After, I baked 3 more cookies to add to the 4 kinds I made last weekend! I will definitely post the 'winner' recipes! Yummy!!

* And about the Rose Bowl... why does the travel industry find it ok to hike up rates so drastically? Flights out of Madison or Central Wisconsin to LA? Close to $1500!?!?! That's ludicrous. Before the Badgers were for sure going flights were one price, after it was announced they almost doubled. We have friends flying into San Diego, San Francisco and Las Vegas and out of Chicago and Minneapolis just to get a somewhat more reasonable rate. Insane. Hotel rooms on NYE are astronomical! Thank goodness it averages out to a better rate because of the other nights. Tickets to the game are a whole other beast. Whoever pays that much for a ticket to a football game is nuts. Ours are face value. :)

* And since i am on the subject of New Year's Eve... I hate it. I feel like it is forced fun. I don't like going out on that night. Period. I'd rather be in bed. Maybe it is because I have never had a truly awesome NYE. I don't know. But LA's midnight is our 2 a.m. Can you tell I am a morning person?

* I just figured out what I am going to do for my Christmas card design. Ordered the extra supplies I will need which probably won't get here until later this week. As well as the pictures. Again my cards won't go out until December 23rd... Why do I do this to myself?

* I am a P90X grad!! :) Steve and I officially finished P90X on Friday. I am toned and 6 or 8 pounds lighter. I can't remember my start weight. I really didn't have a lot to lose in the first place though. I wanted to get toned. Probably gained a little weight in muscle. I feel great and I am really proud of myself that I stuck with such an intense program for 3 months. We don't know what to do now so we'll probably just keep going! We are planning on running Crazy Legs (5K up and down hills) in April in Madison and I will do the Susan G. Komen run here in October. So yesterday instead of taking the day off I decided to see if I could run the 3.1 miles on the elliptical machine. I did it although I thought it was 3.2 miles but my heart was going. P90X is so different that I'd have to train by running to get ready for it. After I finished 3.5 miles (cool down) and doing 350 sit-ups (Yes 350! That's how many you do in Ab Ripper X...) I put a jacket over my sweaty t-shirt and a hat on my wet head and went outside and took our Christmas card picture! Oh, I put some powder and lipstick on but it was the best post work out picture I have ever taken! ;)

A BIG Win!

If you haven't heard, the Wisconsin Badgers are most likely heading to Pasadena on January 1, 2011 to play in the Rose Bowl...



And we might be going with them! Go Bucky!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Front: Dad, Adreanna, Geoff, Parker, Lisa & AJ
Back: Me, Steve, Craig & Mom

I was lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving with my whole side of our family. I wish everyone could be as lucky as me. Happy Thanksgiving!

Tuned Out!

I axed some more shows that I used to watch: Brothers & Sisters, Cougar Town and Running Wilde. I got sick of listening to people bitch constantly. There is probably a couple more that I cut and just forgot. I wonder sometimes how I keep up with them. I am watching the 2nd season of The Buried Life and Psych returned which has me, well, psyched. Desperate Housewives has a newbie on the show- Beth, who will keep me watching. I actually went to high school in the burbs of Chicago with Emily Bergl. I am enjoying watching her acting career take off. Dexter has been fascinating this season. Glee's Rocky Horror episode has been my favorite ever. I feel bad that I have 6 Boardwalk Empires on the DVR and have yet to watch a 30 Rock OnDemand. One day...

Oranament Swap

Micaela over at Dolce Vita is hosting an Ornament Swap (sorry, sign up ended Nov. 7) which I immediately signed up for. I am looking forward to seeing what everyone gets! I think I may have to make one for my partner, the awesome American Bridget (Jones). I look forward to getting to know her better! She can't turn down a pomegranate martini. Sounds familiar... Definitely check out Micaela's blog. She is a girl obsessed with mail. And her mail is creative both inbound and outbound. I like that about her. :)

How I know I live with a preschooler Tuesday...

It's a good thing that kid above is darn cute...

About a month ago I went to the dentist and from the dentist you get your $120 travel sized toothpaste, toothbrush and floss. Yes, I did type $120. Because the dentist is really expensive. But that's a rant for another day. I left typed goodies on the kitchen counter. AJ comes into our bathroom the next morning with white stuff all over his hands and says 'Mmmmm. That smells good.' I look over and realize it is not soap or lotion. Half the travel sized tube!! I went to get my camera to snap a photo but Daddy was washing it all off when I got back in there. I could of snapped a photo of them cleaning it up except my hubs was in a towel and I don't need everyone that reads this blog emailing me to get his digits and what not. No need for a frenzy! ;) After being cleaned up AJ declares, 'I did it all by myself!' Yes, indeed child, you did put toothpaste all over your hands by yourself!!

Fast forward to last week. I am putting AJ down for a nap and am reading him books before he goes down. I am so tired that I start making up words since my eyes are crossing during the fourth Scooby Doo book. I put him down and decide to take a little napper myself... I am kinda napping in my hubbby's man cave next to AJ's room (he's got one of those super comfy recliners in there that I got him last year for his birthday/Christmas). AJ is NOT napping but I am so tired I can't drag my butt out of the chair. So a half hour later I get up and go in his room where I find him doing a no pants dance, his face, butt, legs, shirt and ears slathered in diaper cream. It is all over the carpet and slipcover on his sofa. It reeks like wintergreen (is that an accurate description of smell for diaper cream) and he is one slippery little sucker. The bath that I threw him in made him even more slippery. The diaper cream went in the garbage (we don't need it anymore anyway) and I had oh so much fun trying to clean it out of the carpet for the next half hour! The mind of a three year old is so bizarre...

New Music Mix Monday

For some reason now all my pictures are going into html format in my composition page which makes it kind of difficult to see what picture is where. Anyone else having this problem? I made a new mix recently. I have WAY, WAY too many songs to fit on my ipod now. I have two itunes libraries. My computer is starting to run out of memory due to all the music and the bajillion photos I have on here. After Christmas I will have to start weeding stuff out and get my computer cleaned up and organized. Anyway, back to the music!







1. October * Broken Bells
2. Angel in the Snow * Elliott Smith
3. This Land is Your Land * Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
4. 15 Steps * Radiohead
5. Dream * Priscilla Ahn
6. Maybe, Maybe * Nico Stai
7. Under My Bed * Meiko
8. We're Here to Save the Day * The Constellations featuring Asher Roth
9. Awake My Soul * Mumford & Sons
10. Devil's In the Jukebox * Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs
11. Crazy * Gnarls Barkley
12. The Ghost Inside * Broken Bells
13. Flightless Bird, American Mouth * Iron & Wine
14. Lucky * Jason Mraz featuring Colbie Caillat
15. Marchin On * OneRepublic
16. Lisztomania * Phoenix
17. Sea Breeze * Tyrone Wells
18. Your Woman * White Town
19. Stop and Stare * OneRepublic
20. I Will Remember You * Ryan Cabrera
21. One October Song * Nico Stai

Notice how it starts and ends with songs with October in them? Fitting since I made the mix in October! Awake My Soul is my fave M&S song. Nico Stai just plain rocks. Love, love, love him. Totally dig The Constellations and Asher Roth's little ditty in it- 'The earth is moving and we're consumers and what we do is we consumer.' Awesome. Dream is beautiful. Lucky is fun, I also loved when Quinn and Sam sung it on Glee. Etc., etc., etc. The mix is great. Period.

Happy Halloween!!

Since I took off the entire month of October I should have tons of stuff to blog about... Some but not much! I was so busy in October it was crazy. I still have a couple weeks of chaos and then it slows a little. This past weekend was PACKED with things. The hubs and I went to a costume party on Saturday night that was a ton of fun.



Steve as a knife thrower. He wasn't so thrilled with the 'puffy' shirt. It is one of my mom's blouses. While getting ready he says, 'This shirt buttons backwards!' 'Hon, most woman's shirts do.' 'How do you get dressed in the morning?' Do you know why? It is because back in the day, someone used to dress the woman so for them the buttons would be correct.



And I am the knife thrower's assistant. I was supposed to have a knife stuck right in the middle of my forehead meeting my early demise but it was too heavy and wouldn't stick. Oh well. I think it would have been really annoying while talking to people and dancing to have a knife handle protruding a 1/2 foot out of my head...



My friend, Kendra, did my hair into a 20s style wave. It looked cool! It even looked neat when I came home and kinda fluffed it out before I took a shower.



On Sunday, AJ & I dressed up as Bob the Builder and his assistant (lover???), Wendy. We had a beautiful day for trick or treating! I asked AJ what we were going to do with all of our candy and he replied, 'Eat it! I like candy!' We have a little too much though... He just finished a candy cane the other day from Christmas! This new load might last until next Halloween!

And yes, I do make our costumes. I love to scavenger through stuff to come up with a creative costume!

A Blog Day of Silence for Daddy Butch

Summer's daddy lost his fight with cancer on Sunday, October 24th, 2010. It is absolutely heartbreaking to have to lose a father so soon, so young. My heart aches for her. She is a wonderful and beautiful person. Summer, I love you girl! xoxo <3

Thursday TV...

Thursday has a tricky 7 pm time slot but that's what OnDemand is for. Shows being watched are Vampire Diaries, Bones, Community, 30 Rock, and The Office. I watched the first episode of Outsourced and it got axed because it is stupid.

You can't do any better than the eye candy on Vampire Diaries...



Bones has great chemistry. I don't think I really have to watch this show in first run but I still do.
Community just cracks me up. I haven't watched it yet this season since I have a bunch on the DVR and I watch that OnDemand. Joel McHale is funny.

Not warm and fuzzy, 30 Rock is smart comedy. The subtle humor is the best.

The Office. Steve Carell's last season. I don't think the show can go on without him. One of the shows that I will actually watch in reruns.

Outsourced was just stupid. How many people want to watch a show where the company sells deer heads that sing Sweet Home Alabama?

Book Review: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

This book is beautifully written. She has a certain way with the words. That being said, I didn't like it! She never uses quotation marks for dialogue. WHY NOT?? I have no idea! It's hard to follow conversations. I thought it was going to be more Sarah Addison Allen but it was weird and led nowhere. The ending was very abrupt, you never find out what the hell is wrong with one of the characters (He turns into furniture?? I think?? Yeah, it is as weird as that sounds.), and just drags. It took me forever to read because I'd fall asleep after a couple of pages. Boo. Not reading Aimee Bender again.

Wednesday TV...

The Wednesday night shows I watch... The Middle, newbie Better With You, Modern Family and Cougar Town. Basically the ABC Wednesday night comedy block.

The Middle is funny. Just like your family funny. All three of the kids are well done- Brick is quirky, Sue is clueless and Axl is always walking around in his underwear...

I watched Better With You last week and while it might get canceled I thought it was funny. There were parts where I actually laughed aloud. Like the clueless guy saying 'You'll be Uncle Ben. 'That was funny. There is a lot of canned laughter that I am not a fan of but I will give this show another shot.


Modern Family won Outstanding Comedy for a reason. It's a great show!! Did you know that the kid who plays Luke is actually a genius? Or a Mensa member or whatever. Hey I didn't say I was really smart, that kid is...

Cougar Town is a little too much. I thought it was going to be really dumb but there is some good stuff in there. You can tell it is by Bill Lawrence because there is a lot of 'Scrubs' humor in there. I am partial to the men on the show. They have great chemistry with each other and I wouldn't mind hanging out with their characters. Although they do seem to always be drinking and I don't think I could keep up!

How I know I live with a preschooler Tuesday...

The set up: I am picking up AJ from preschool, his teacher, another mom and her son, E, are in the hallway.

E to AJ: You didn't say thank you for my birthday cookie. (Yes, I did think this was rude because AJ probably did say thank you.)
E's mom: E! That wasn't very nice!
AJ to E: You're welcome!
Mom, teacher, me: Giggle
E is standing there with his hands out and palms up. AJ takes E's hand and shakes it.
AJ to E: Nice to meet you!
Mom, teacher and me: Crying we are all laughing so hard!
:)
I just hope stuff continues to roll off him like this and he is always so laid back (and funny)!

Tuesday TV...

Finally! I think I am going about it in a totally roundabout way but LOOK!! Text above the picture!!!

Tuesdays lineup is as follows: Glee, trying out No Ordinary Family, Raising Hope and Running Wilde, Life Unexpected and Parenthood...

Glee, I love it! I am a total Gleek!! What are they going to do when these kids 'graduate' though?

No Ordinary Family- Gonna try it tonight. We'll see...

Raising Hope was good but they showed too much in the trailers for it so it wasn't as funny as it could have been if I hadn't seen the commercials about a bajillion times. Martha Plimpton is great in this! This role was designed for her.



Running Wilde was pretty awful considering it has 2 decent actors in it. I will give it another shot since I have a total girl crush on Keri Russell. For a long time. Felicity- one of my favorite shows ever! And Arrested Development is another one of my favorite shows of all time and it is by the same creators and 2 of the same actors are in this (Will Arnett and David Cross). Get your act together and make this one a winner! I wanted this to be funny but it just wasn't. The funniest thing on this show from last week was that they had a photo of a building and it said 'Vandalay Industries' and that is a total shout out to Seinfeld and George Costanza. I think that was this one anyway. I chuckled.

Life Unexpected is darling and all the actors are people I'd hang out with. If I knew them. Oh, and if they were real...

Parenthood was a show that I gave a shot last year mid-season and I loved it! It seems very real to me. I know this is just TV but the issues are relevant. And the looks Adam (Peter Krause) is shooting William Baldwin's Gordon (Adam's boss) when he flirts with Adam's sister, Sarah (Lauren Graham) are priceless. He's got the 'Are you kidding me?' look down!

Monday TV...

Monday night's lineup includes Chuck, How I Met Your Mother, newbie Lone Star and Castle. Gossip Girl was 86'd.

Chuck is fun and Zachary Levi (Chuck) is adorable. I like spy shows. And nerds. :)

How I Met Your Mother's Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) is hilarious. Can't get enough of the womanizer. But who the heck is the mother? I am in it for the long haul until we figure it out. Frankly, I don't really care. It's that good.

Lone Star- I tried this newbie out. I liked it. I look forward to see where it is going. The star (James Wolk) has charisma. And he's easy on the eyes. That doesn't hurt. Critics are liking it but are they gonna pull the plug before fans get a chance to? Maybe... Boo Fox if you do!

Castle is another of my favorites on TV right now. I love the chemistry. I love the mystery. It's like a fun mystery novel on TV. It's got page turner appeal.

Oh, Gossip Girl... you're outta here! Boring. But I will miss all the hot toddies on the show. All of them! They sure know where to get the good looking actors. Except for Jenny. Can't stand her. Whining will not get you any points in my book.

P90X Week 2 Done!

So now that I have done all the routines at least twice, this is really getting addicting! We really don't like the Yoga X so I think we are going to switch things up a bit a try Beth Shaw's Yoga Core. 90 minutes is just too long, one, and two, it's kind of boring because it is very repetitive. As far as Yoga goes I don't think we are interrupting the program by doing something else. I also talked to my friend Kerri (the yoga teacher) again and she thought the routine was very advanced and SHE got bored and thought it was too long. Kenpo X (mixed martial arts) is still my favorite. What can I say... I like pretending to kick someone's ass! On Sundays our son joins in on the fun for Chest & Back and Abs for at least the warm-ups and giggles the whole time. Last night in the bathtub he was doing chin-ups on the bar on the side. That kid cracks me up. Also, if I can figure out how to post a video on here, I have a cute one of him and P90X.

I have so much more energy and I am excited to get up and workout. Even though it is intense, it really is fun. Today was Plyometrics. Lots of sports oriented things- tires, basketball shots, etc. I really can feel myself getting stronger, especially my abs. And it is fun having my hubby as my workout buddy!

Sunday TV...

Sorry, but I still can't get any words to go above the first picture. It is very frustrating! I am surprised that I haven't done a post yet about TV since as you know I am obsessed and it is fall and premiere week was last week... Boo! Bad TV blogger!

So Sunday shows I watch are Dexter, Desperate Housewives, the new Boardwalk Empire and the (supposedly) last season of Brothers & Sisters.

Dexter is by far and away, one of my favorite shows on TV right now. The books were terrible in comparison. They had no depth. Michael C. Hall is fantabulous. Can't wait to see what they do with him this season with 3 kids and no wifey. Last season was spectacular with John Lithgow. Wondering how they will top it!

Desperate Housewives is getting a little boring and predictable but I like it because its an over-the-top soap. We'll see if it stays on the DVR this season... Entertain me DH!

Boardwalk Empire is splashy and trashy. The set & costumes are phenomenal. Steve Buschemi gives me the willies. He is not attractive but he plays the role so well. Smarmy. This one is gonna be good.

Brothers & Sisters is going into its last season which is good. I don't know if I can take much more of the Walkers' misery. But it is acted superbly. How Matthew Rhys (Kevin) can make his Welsh accent sound American amazes me. Why, oh why, did you have to get rid of the forever hottie, Rob Lowe though?

You are sooooo good looking!

I needed a blogging break!

Last week was busy. We (my husband and I) started a new workout, new diet and a new get up time (4:50 am) which is really early. So far so good though. P90X is intense and I was aching. Sunday- Chest & Back and Abs (LOTS of push-ups and pull-ups), Monday- Plyometrics ('jump' training), Tuesday- Arms & Shoulders and Abs (Arms were a little too easy to be called 'intense'), Wednesday- Yoga. 90 minutes of intense Yoga. I gave it to my friend, Kerri, who is a yoga teacher and she said there was 'A LOT of Vinyasa' which after looking it up, I'm still not quite sure what she means or if that is good or bad or hard or what. I'll be lucky (and happy), really lucky, to be able to do the crane (above photo) after 90 days. But after P90X, I do plan to take a class from Kerri! Thursday- Legs & Back and Abs. Lots of lunges. Friday- Kenpo, which is cardio boxing/mixed martial arts. Kenpo is my favorite. Very fun but I feel like such a clod.

The diet. I have never eaten so much meat in my life! So much protein... I want my carbs back!! Three days last week I ate 6 egg white scrambles with 3 oz of chicken in them and a little parmesan and fresh basil. It took up 1/2 a dinner plate! It is good and I am not that crazy about eggs but the whites are better. My husband just laughs as he looks at my plate.

The new wake up time is fine with me. I am a morning person but I like to stay up a little later because of the little one. I still want some 'me time' and new shows are starting... Where am I going to find the time for all my shows? I may have to 86 some. Oh well.

How I know I live with a preschooler Tuesday...

Lately, the last couple of months or so, AJ is afraid of thunderstorms. So the other day after a rainy night (there wasn't any thunder but the rain was driving against the outside of the house by his bedroom and it was loud), he came into our room and told us how the thunder woke him up late last night (which, of course, we knew because he woke us up in the middle of the night and wanted to sleep in the living room (?) another thing lately...). He then asked, "How come we can't turn the thunder off, daddy? It's so loud and it goes boom.' :)

TV Time: Vampire Diaries

I am so happy Vampire Diaries is back because now I get to see this guy's mug every Thursday (or Friday depending on when I watch it) night! Mmmmm, I love Ian Somerhalder. Especially as Damon. As Boone on Lost... just didn't do it for me. He's sooooo good looking.

The it's Friday, I'm in love series

Well, it's Friday so it's time to tell you what I am in love (and not so much in love with at the end...) with this week...

1. Bloggers uniting for a blogger friend and her family...

Remember Summer? She is this awesome, awesome gal over at b is for.... brown, breathe & believe. Her daddy is down in Louisiana while she is in NYC. He has stage 3 lung cancer and was in remission but did some cautionary brain radiation which has effected him worse than all the chemo and chest radiation combined. What's worse is that the oil spill left him without a job and he lives quite a ways from the hospital where he has his treatments. So Summer started 'A Dollar and a Card for Daddy' to help cheer him up and ease the stress of paying for gas to go to treatments. She is a good soul and I pray for a speedy recovery for her daddy and her heart. I sent my card of to Butch yesterday with a fiver because it's the least I could do. Head over to her site to get his address to send him a card and a dollar! Make his (and her) day!

2. Jeans & sweatshirt weather!! I love the 60s- degrees that is!

3. Best of... in our local free paper, City Pages...

This annual survey cracks me up and makes me wonder. My favorite local restaurant, Basil, took the #1 spot for both 'Best New Restaurant' and 'Most Creative Cuisine'. Yum, yum, I love me some Basil! It doesn't hurt that we are friends with the owners and their daughter is one of our #1 babysitters. There is continuously one restaurant (uhmmm... 2510... uhmmm) on there that places in different categories that I just don't understand Wausau's fascination with. I think they are offering their customers a percentage off if they vote for them. Anyway, they have some funny categories on there like 'Grossest Bathrooms' where Wal-Mart tied for 2nd with porta potties. Hey, I won't go to the bathroom at Wal-Mart...

4. Filling my etsy shop with more to come. Go visit, NOW!! :)

5. An organized office!!

I cleaned and organized all my paper and whatnots this past weekend! Yay!! It was out of control in here.

6. Polito's Pizzeria's Garlic Knots...

Hell yeah. And after Wednesday night's gorge fest I will not eat another one for 3 months. Not because I don't want to but because of P90x. Which starts on Sunday. Which scares the bijimminies out of me. But I keep thinking of my super svelte bod in 3 months time and I will persevere!

7. It's Artrageous in Wausau this weekend.

This is my favorite weekend in this town! Tonight we will be hosting a table at the Woodson Art Museum's dinner after the preview of the 35th Annual Birds In Art Exhibit. We have two very talented artists at our table that I will tell you all about next week! Saturday I am going to the Festival of Arts with my mom after the Farmer's Market (gotta stock up the veggies for next week!). Sunday we are going to the Rib Mountain Fire Station Open House which AJ is pumped for. Nice little weekend, huh? Not sure if we'll get to Bed Bath & Beyond or Home Depot though. Don't know if we'll have any time. Hahaha...

Oh and one thing I don't love so much... Blogger's annoying spacing thing has got me frustrated!