Barefoot Monday

Next week it could be a Barefoot Thursday, or I could have a Barefoot Friday this week, or I could quit altogether after today, but tonight's dinner is coming from the Barefoot Contessa's cookbook that I was given for Christmas. I'm still debating what I'm going to make but I'll update this by tonight and you'll see how it went. Wish me luck!

Christmas. Check.

Christmas is finished. I'm happy and sad. There really is no other holiday that completely takes over entire families like Christmas does. Everyone feels obligated to be nice and to visit with people you wouldn't normally visit with during the other parts of the year, and if they are anything like me, instead of reminding them why they don't visit normally it reminds them that they are a jerk for having missed out on their company for so long. I love Christmas because it makes me feel like a jerk; and for at least a few weeks after the holidays I keep those folks in mind and I call and email and may visit a time or two, but it's too bad the holiday spirit doesn't stick around after the holidays. That would rock, but then again it would just be July, not the holidays anymore, but if everyone kept the holiday spirit year round I guess we wouldn't miss the holiday time of year, because it would be all year. Get spirity people! Let's holiday the crap out of this year!

This Christmas Erik was adamant about us not getting stressed out by bouncing back and forth between the families... the families that live five miles apart, the families that understand we have other families to see and visit with and love on. Yeah, he was the only stressing about not stressing, and by the time we finally collapsed onto the last couch of the night he still couldn't relax because he was Stressy McStresserpants. I was eating my second plate of cheesecake by the time he calmed down. Next  year I think I'll make out a chart or timeline or Excel spreadsheet for him. (7:00 Home, 10:00 Porters, 16:00 Rosendahls, 22:00 Home.) I love making lists and spreadsheets so that's no hard thing for me to do, though I don't know if I would be able to handle super serious Daddy with a list, Mommy's with lists are fine but give a Daddy a list and all of a sudden there are bullwhips and cattle prods and "Where are you're shoes, soldier!?" and as much as Erik is suited for that line of torture I'm really excited to see what kind of a monkey wrench a three year old will be in any plans we make for next year. Ha! never underestimate the power of the Laine.

I didnt' take near the amount of pictures this year as I did last year. I was a little busy chasing Laine and eating. Mostly I was eating, so there are a select few photographs this year, but you won't be able to tell the difference seeing as how you only get shown the best anyway. I'll know though, my December '10 folder is tiny compared to my December '09.

So to round up the holiday, here are the best of the few shots I got. I hope every one who celebrates Christmas had a merry one.

 

Sunday Owie

TGI...wtF

One: I think I may have been born too late. I think I was meant to be born nearer the time of the invention of the telephone, so that I could have been devastated by it. I could have become depressed and wandered the halls of my home in a sullen cloud of bereavement over my loss of creativity. Written correspondence at that point in history started to die, as did penmanship and original thought. I think the telephone can be blamed for the fact that there are no more inspirational ideas in Hollywood or the fact that every book I read is a pale comparison of some other book I’ve read. It’s sad really. And I think I should have been born in a time period where I could truly mourn the passing of the letter. I’d write about it now but I haven’t written a letter to anyone in years and my penmanship sucks.

Two: Did you know that at one point in his life Johnny Cash looked into a mirror and said “Let’s kill us both”? What an overwhelmingly philosophical profundity. To look at oneself and realize there are two in one body and to be tired of both.

Three: Is plastic surgery a way to try and God-proof yourself? Isn’t it a bit like turning on the lawn sprinklers to try and prevent the flaming sulfuric acid rain of the Apocalypse from setting fire to your flower garden?

Four: I read a story where a little girl asks an old man how old he is and his answer: “The same age as my little finger and just a little older than my teeth.” How beautiful is that answer?! That's how old I'd like to always be.

Happy Birthday Damone!

So I have this friend and it’s her birthday. Her Facebook says she’s turning 36 but I don’t believe it. I believe its some bigger number; not a larger, older number because the lady looks younger than Laine, really, but a bigger deal kind of number. Like a 5 or 10 number I just don’t know which. So I want to make a big deal of it but I don’t want to pick the wrong number. What if I’m like Happy 40^th and she’s all I’m 25 stupid. So since I’m completely pinned to a wall (because she will never in a million years admit to her actual age) I’ll just have to say Happy 36^th birthday, but in my head I’ll be thinking of grander numbers. 

Love love love!



I love you Damone!

Totally The Worst Epiphany Ever

Whole family around the Christmas tree
Dad: "We talked about it and we agreed to keep it simple; socks, undies, PJ's, maybe a few small toys. I'll be honest, I had my doubts."
Mom: "I have one more gift for you guys!!"
Kids open a Wii
Dad: I don't know how she does it, but she know's what she's doing. And everyday, she' s the reason why we're doing it."
Everybody dancing happily around their gifts.

That's the new Walmart commercial on TV tonight.
I cried.
That's the mom I want to be.
Because that's the family we are.

We are having to scrape together all the pennies we find in the sofa to buy anyone a gift for Christmas this year. I was crying not becasue I thought it was a sweet commercial; though it is for sure. I cried because I have everyone's gift bought and wrapped already.

Everyone but Laine and Erik.

Thanksgiving Weekend Update

Sorry this has taken so long to get written. It hasn’t been because I couldn’t think of anything but that I had so much that typing it out seems like such a huge job, it’s going to take hours (and it did) editing is not my strong suit. I make other people give me the two sentence version of things because I can’t stand to even try for the interest to listen to a story but I can’t whittle my tales down to less than two and a half pages typed. I’m a hypocritical person. Yes, we know this.  

So were to start? Last Wednesday? Oh I was a horrible mother last Wednesday. I was off work and I still took Laine to daycare. I know I know, special place in hell, whatever. I totally got my house spic-n-spanned so that when we got home Friday night I came home to a clean home with fresh sheets to crawl into, it was like getting an extra night on vacation. So yeah, I wasn’t working but I still took Laine to daycare. Hate me if you want, it’ll make me cry, but I got my stuff done. And I was able to spend the rest of my weekend focused on Laine instead of the kitchen counters and laundry like I am most weekends.

So, Wednesday (after I was done being horrible) we headed out to Corsicana. We’d planned to be on the road around noon but didn’t get out of League City until almost 2:00, I worried a little about Laine sleeping during such a long car ride, on the one hand it would be helpful if she slept some of it because I don’t’ have that many car activities for her and there really wasn’t any room for me to sit in the back seat with her, so I was kind of hoping that she slept more than no. on the other hand however if she slept too much in the care she would stay up all night or at least that’s the way it would normally go. For this trip Laine slept the whole way there, we had to wake her up at the bed and breakfast at 6:30. I mean that’s a four and a half hour nap! Well since Laine was awake and would be for a while we decided to drive out to Sydney’s dads house to see Levi for a while but he was coming into town so we met him at Gander Mountain instead. Laine was a holy terror running around the store, in of course the cutest way humanly possible. There was a large wooden stage area where they displayed their bbq pits and smokers and Laine liked how her boots made loud noises when she stomped on the stage. So she stomped. And jumped and danced and fell down and kicked and it was really kind of adorable, even if strangers were staring. After a while we hunted my dad down again and found Levi. LEVI!! It was so good to see him. It’s always a shock to me when I see him after so long and he’s still not 12 years old. I don’t’ know why I expect to see a little kid anymore. He’s huge now and you’d think I would get used to that, but in my head he’s the kid who forgot there was breaks on the snowmobile and almost killed me. Sigh, I miss that kid. 

So we shopped for a bit and then we headed out to Kit’s house. It was warm when we got there so he had all his windows open and it smelled like wood and nature and felt so country and homey I really couldn’t wait to leave so I could come back and spend the whole of Thanksgiving just sitting around that house. After we left Kit’s Wednesday night we headed to Chili’s for quick bite to eat. Mom had stayed at the bed and breakfast because she wasn’t feeling well and we were supposed to bring her back some food. I sent a text saying “Chili’s. want us to bring you anything?” but apparently I didn’t’ send it to mom, I sent it to my boss. Yeah. I got back a text saying “”this is major tom” which was so funny I almost pee’d because who knew that man was funny? I do now. Anyway I was just able to apologies and see that he’d replied to me again when my phone died. I wasn’t able to see that he’d wished me a Happy Thanksgiving until Friday morning.

For the couple of nights prior to us leaving Laine hadn’t been sleeping all that well. She’d wake up and want to be in my room and wouldn’t’ let me sleep so I was completely exhausted Wednesday night, ready to crash and sleep for weeks but the room Erik picked for us since we had out choice from the entire house, was the one with the smallest tallest bed. No way would two adults plus baby be able to sleep in it, plus I almost had to just to get up in it and it terrified me to think of Laine falling off onto the hard wood floors, but that’s the room Erik wanted and since I was tired and whining about it Erik took Laine and slept with her on the futon at the base of the bed. Laine only woke up like four times and popped up her head and called for me, but then she’d drape herself over Erik and pass out again, Erik didn’t wake up once. So except for the four wake ups that I fell right back to sleep after I didn’t get bothered and it was some great sleep. He did the same thing for me Thursday night but I’ll get to that later.

We met mom and dad downstairs for breakfast around 7:30. Coffee was being brewed and eggs and bacon were cooking in the kitchen and I can’t even describe the smell. Old homes and fresh baked rolls and coffee is Heaven. I was in Heaven. No lie. Heaven.
After an amazing breakfast everyone went to their respective corners to shower and get ready for the day. Erik Laine and I had a tiny little one person shower and we all three squeezed in. we did more laughing than washing but it was fun. When everyone was appropriately attired we piled into daddy’s car and headed to the party. We got there a little earlier than the rest of the family so we were able to dig our heels in and get comfortable before meeting all the new people. Most everyone had been at Levi and Sydney’s wedding so there was at least some recognition there for me but I am horrible about remembering names so everyone was ma’am and sir for me. I’m not sure anyone noticed though, I was ma’am and Erik was sir to everyone else too.

Sydney’s family was such a comfortable group of people to be around. When I first started dating Erik I was pretty put off by how different our families were. The Rosendahl’s had no family traditions in common with the Porters at all except for the fact that yes, they did celebrate Christmas. And the food! Different as hummus and mashed potatoes. Rosendahl’s love their onions and olives and Porters don’t. well they do but not in everything they eat. So, tangent that was, all to get to this. The Herrington’s are like the Porters long lost twin. Eating at Kit’s house was like eating at Grandma’s. I was familiar with every seasoning used on the meats, no vegetable casserole was a stranger to me, and I could readily identify every pie cake and cookie. It was like going ton vacation but staying home at the same time. Did I tell you it was Heaven. It was Heaven.

After we all ate our fill the first time half of the party settled in front of the TV to watch the Saints beat the Cowboys. Then they turned on the A&M game and I’m pretty sure there was another one in there too, I was in the other room with the other half of the family, sitting around the fire talking abo9ut politics and religion and enjoying every minute of it. Another thing about the Rosendahl/Porter vs. Herrington/Porter thing I’m envious of. Herrington’s know how to talk instead of debate and debate instead of fight. As much as I love the rowdy throw downs with Erik’s family the witty discussions with Sydney’s family made me feel a little more comfortable, I even threw in a cent or two which I never in a million years would have done with my in-laws.

However nice it was to be around like minded people though, I love my in-laws. They challenge me and keep me on my toes and instead of getting contented which would make me bored I know I have a group of people on my side that will always keep me entertained. I really wouldn’t mind spending more time with the Herrington's thought. It’s amazing to me that something so familiar can feel so refreshing and new.

We finally decided to call it sometime around nine or ten, and headed back to the house for the night. Everyone went directly to their rooms and settled in, I read a few pages and Erik watched a Bond movie until we finally slept at least mostly through the night again.
Friday morning was just as wonderful s the one before it. The lady of our house made us an amazing quiche with biscuits instead of crust. Heaven. We enjoyed our slow morning drinking coffee and letting Laine run around the downstairs of the house for a while.
We have a kind of ghost story about the house we stayed in, apparently when the owners of the house first got the place they had some psychic come by to do whatever they do to see if a place is haunted and the psychic claimed to see a woman standing at the top of the stairs and she described her in detail. A few days later a family member of the previous owners stopped by to give the new owner a photo of the older owner’s family, to put on the wall I guess for historical reference and there in the photo was Miss Fanny. The ghost at the top of the stairs. (Ooooo!) So the new owner told us that anytime anything mysterious happened or if anything was just weird they’d blame it on Miss Fanny. Ha! Well Friday morning I went down to mom and dads room and mom asked us what we were doing upstairs slamming doors and stomping down the stairs in the middle of the night. I’d slept through the whole night so I had no idea what she meant but I told her it was weird that both doors to our room which I had closed incase Laine woke up before me were standing wide open, and mom said that the door on the stairwell that the owners said not to open was standing wide open last night too, letting in freezing cold air and dad had to close it around 2:00 in the morning. So when Erik wakes up we ask him about it, did he stomp around and slam doors last night, he said no, he did open our room doors though and opened the balcony door for a bit to let in some air because the heat had risen to almost 90 degrees in our room, but he closed the outside door and left our open for circulation. (the balcony door is not the door the owner said not to open, Erik said he didn’t’ touch that door, hadn’t even gone near the stairs.) so…. Dun dun dun, that leaves us with someone not Erik stomping upstairs and slamming two door shut. I went upstairs and walked around a bit then came back down and asked mom if she’d heard us walking around she said no, so I went up and down the stairs and she said no it didn’t’ sound like that, I tried a different pair of hoes and she said it was more that those but still not quite so….. Dun dun dun! It’s Miss Fanny! It had to be, we were the only people in the house and no one was admitting to stomping, slamming doors or going near the stairs or opening secret passageway doors. (which is totally what it was)

Gasp! Ghosts!

We were all completely entertained by the idea but not enough to stay another night, so after breakfast and showers we got packed up and checked out. We drove around Corsicana for a while before stopping for lunch at Roy’s. Roy’s is a diner in town that is exactly like the one that Friendswood is missing. Friendswood needs a greasy diner. I’d go at least once a week. Probably more if they served good soup and grilled cheese like Roy's. Before leaving town we stopped by the fruit cake place and the pickle place and bought something at both. It was getting close to 1:30 and Erik then decided to tell me that he had a family thing we were supposed to be doing at 4:00. In Friendswood. Der, maybe we should get going doofus. So we left without being able to see Levi and sydney and kit again which totally made me tear up. And I won’t be okay with it even a little bit until I can get hugs for Christmas.

We made it to Erik’s parents a little before 5:00 to find that the party was actually planned for 6:00 and then even later we found out that James and Cassie were told it was at 7:00, so 7:00 is when we ate and I had been hungry since 4:00, ugh! Alicia made an amazing brie pastry raspberry cracker topper thing that I ate until my stomach hurt though so all was well. Sinner was nice, the company was better, the coffee even better than that. Laine played hard until it was time to go and we finally made it home around 10:00. To a clean house. And clean sheets. It felt like a win.