Thank goodness

I spent the last three days working from home due to a blizzard.  Although I think this insane weather is a clear sign of global warming and mother nature has been forced into a crazy burst of record breaking highs and lows.... I did appreciate the break.  I worked from home the past three days and did not even turn my car on (hope it starts fine tomorrow).  This does mean next week I will be playing catch up a bit as you can never get everything done working from home, but I really did enjoy the lighter schedule.  I will keep this short and simple as I try to do after a post like the last one.  Not only was the break nice to stay warm and cozy in the house, but I happened to get sick this week and it was the perfect time to really go at my own pace and rest and re-energize.  My husband picked up the slack this week as I let the laundry lay on the floor and the dishes pile up in the sink, and I am very thankful for him (for many reasons). 

Hope you are staying warm and I hope we all see some sunshine soon....

Levels of funny

I went to a clinic recently where I found myself in a banquet hall with about 400 other people that coach softball.  Most of the speakers were good and the information was helpful.  But after several hours of sitting in the same place and listening to very similar information I found myself getting very easily distracted.  There was this older man sitting next to me and he would try to make funny comments from time to time to his co-worker next to him and to me on the other side, and I appreciated his effort.  After a few minutes I noticed that he kept reaching down to the side of him somewhere beyond my line of sight and he came back with some sort of treat and popped it in his mouth.  He did this two or three times and then I leaned over to him and said "Have you ever seen Napoleon Dynamite?"  Thankfully he said yes, and the rest of of my joke landed.  Then I said "You remind me of that part when he keeps reaching down to his side pocket on his pants and he is eating his tator tots during class..."  The guy laughed and said he had some sort of jelly bean like candy and assured me he did not have a pocket full of warm tator tots.  THIS was the highlight of the day as far as humor goes.

Now it was funny at the time, yes.  But then I realized that one of the speakers was getting all the laughs and she did have some funny, not so politically correct comments to say and she kept everyone's interest for sure. Instead of saying she had some fast players on her team and some not so fast, she would call the slow ones "butt slow" and that got a laugh.  And someone next to me said "See, I told you she was hilarious."  Now this is when I said no no no, in my head.  Yes, this woman has every right to call the speaker hilarious but I just wasn't sure she had heard of anything truly funnier than what we were currently listening to.  I have been called a 'comedy snob' and I think I am okay with it.   

This scene reminded me of when I worked in an office every day and how we all (or at least some of us) start to go a little crazy after a while.  Eight hours straight of working in a basement, no natural sunlight and those florescent lights and off white walls just over taking you...  I remember there was "office humor" and it was far different than anything I found funny outside of work.  Someone would make a comment and I would catch myself half-heartedly laughing like Toby from The Office and then once I was in my car driving home I would snap back into my full self and realize 'that wasn't funny at all'. 

I've decided there are levels of funny and somewhere in there is The Office Level (cubicle or not), The Banquet Hall Level, Classroom funny, and then the levels just start getting better and better beyond that and eventually you reach 30 Rock Level (quick, witty, and down right hilarious -my favorite level).  I know that humor is helpful especially on those long days and I guess I would rather have the Office level than no level at all.... at least I think I would.

I will leave you with my list.  It may be oozing with my comedic snobness, and oh yea sometimes I make up words, but I think I have reached the level of comedy where I am qualified to judge the un-funny shows.

The top 5 Worst (non-reality) Shows Ever:
5. Outsourced.  It made the list because I can't believe it is in the current line up of Thursday night awesomeness.  I have seen a total of 60 seconds and that was enough to realize it will never be funny.
4. King of Queens.  Let's me honest though According to Jim could be interchangeable here, anything with a fat husband, skinny wife, husband acts like an idiot and wife freaks out, blah blah blah, I am just sick of the plots being so similar but then failing at actually being funny.
3. My name is Earl.  The previews alone on this show are so irritatingly not funny to me.
2. The Big Bang Theory.  I am sorry, I know a lot of people watch it, and we have tried but I just don't get it.  The humor is not there and that skinny guy's voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me.
1.  Two and a Half Men. The. Worst. Ever.

Now on a brighter note, the top 5 Best and Funniest Shows Ever
5. Scrubs
4. Summer Heights High
3. Strangers with Candy
2. Arrested Development
1. 30 Rock

There, I said it.  Lemon out.

A few great things...

I have had three snow days in the past two weeks and that means a few less appointments for me and a few less busy days.  I have appreciated the break SO much.  I love being at home more, not having to drive in bad weather, and getting to hang out with our dogs more.  I also really like eating at home, that may sound weird, or not, who cares, I just like it.  I have noticed that our dog Jaxon follows me around to each room that I go to (even the bathroom) which has been pretty funny to observe.  We got a new bed last weekend and upgraded to a king sized bed!  And we are still very happy with our purchase of netflix.  Almost every movie or show I have found has either been very interesting and I learned something new or it was just down right entertaining.  Although I watched one movie two days ago that was just bad.  The main character was just a jerk and he had no redeeming qualities at all.  And at the end of the movie I was just bummed out that I chose that one to watch.  Last week Matt and I watched 'Frozen' which we could tell by the description it was going to be horrible but we still chose it, and watched the entire thing.  This guy and his girlfriend and best friend all get stuck on a ski lift over night.  Which, if you have ever been on a ski lift you can imagine that getting stuck 30 feet up in the air in the freezing cold over night would be horrible.  But the dialogue was horrible, the effects were even worse and just one bad thing after another kept happening.  What were we supposed to do, stop watching?  Now that would have been crazy.  We had to see which of the three dum dum's actually survived if any (don't worry the girlfriend survives and also I didn't ruin the ending because I am positive you would have never watched it yourself).

Snow day!

This morning I woke up and found out my first meeting was canceled and one meeting was changed to tomorrow and then this afternoon I was going to lead softball conditioning for the team I am coaching but because they didn't have school due to the snow, conditioning was canceled too!  It was a nice surprise to have a busy day go to a very relaxing, catching up on things sort of day where I could stay home in my pj's all day long.

Every time I looked outside and saw the big flakes coming down, I smiled.  It was a much needed break and each passing flake felt like a breather and a chance to get some things done that I have been meaning to.

We had a very nice weekend kicking it off on Friday night with a dinner out with Matt's side of the family.  Saturday my mom and sister joined me to my good friend Megan's baby shower for her first kiddo and little boy who is due in just a few short weeks.

Great food, cute cupcakes and a very lovely shower with good people.

Me, Ashleigh (holding Ashton) and Megan.  Doesn't Megan look sooo cute?!

My mom helped me make my second baby blanket and I was pretty pleased with how this one turned out. Megan loved it too (thankfully) because she said she needed a blanket for her baby's crib and it matched the colors she already chose for the nursery!

And this little guy, Ashton partied it up with us at the baby shower too.  He did great!  He was so chilled and had fun just checking everything out.  He is such a cutie pie!

Today...

Today I am reminded of how very precious life really is.  Today I am trying to live a more authentic, genuine, truthful life.  Today I listen to my instincts more and become more honest with my loved ones.  Today I am so very thankful for my family and good friends.  I know that at the end of the day good relationships are the substance of life.  I know that life is worth living well.  I know that we are all here for different reasons and at the same time we are all here for one another.  Today I am so grateful for my husband, the choices that he makes and the incredible person he is at his core.  I hope for you that you find peace this holiday season, that you make time to tell your loved ones what they mean to you and to live your life better today than you did yesterday.

This season....

A few weeks ago we were at a cider mill celebrating the start of the fall season and Matt noticed a booth for a local non-profit where you can 'adopt' foster care kids for christmas and get them presents that are on their wish list.  We decided to sign up for two 14 year olds, a boy and a girl.  We were sent their first names and a few of their favorite things and we were off.  We asked our families to contribute if they felt like getting us a gift this year, they could instead get something off one of the kiddo's wish list and that would be our gift this year. Our family stepped up effortlessly and we were able to send two big red santa bags that were jam packed with goodies.

The kid's both got some great art supplies, lots of cool clothes, some fashionable boots for the girl, and a sweet Chiefs hoodie for the boy, some gift cards, scarves, gloves, and the list goes on.  I got to deliver the big santa bags one morning this past week and it felt great giving to those that truly need it way more than we do.  I love any chance to help young people and I know our gifts will make their holiday at least a little brighter.

THANK YOU TO OUR FAMILIES' FOR CONTRIBUTING AND THEIR GIVING SPIRITS!

I also think we are at a point in our lives where we don't need 'things', we don't want more stuff just to have some thing.  I think it's great to take a few extra minutes to really think about a gift you are getting someone and to know it's purpose, whether it be fun, relaxation, inspiration, or something sweet that will make the receiver of the gift feel special, than it's worth it.

We hope you are enjoying this holiday season and more than anything gaining great memories.

WHAT a weekend!

I'm gonna go picture crazy with this one... we had a very busy but very fun weekend celebrating with the family.  My 6 week old nephew Ashton was baptized and we spent the weekend with family celebrating... My mom, sister and I saw the Von Trapp family sing with the Kansas City Symphony (no pictures but just start singing 'raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...' now in your head and you can imagine the fun).  Then a pizza dinner with about 20 of us last night, Chris' family was in town to join in the goodness.  Today we went to church, Ashton was baptized and we went to my mom's house for lunch, watched the Chiefs game and some intense ping pong games.  I can officially say I could play ping pong for hours, my dad and I played against one another and that was the first time we had played each other in probably 15 years and it was fun!  It was a fierce competition and although I beat him in overtime (24-22) he won 3 out of 5.  It was nice how home like my mom's house now feels to me.  I have always said wherever my mom is that is my second home, but now her warm, cozy home with Steve really does feel like my second home and it's great.  I cherish every moment with our families and feel very grateful for all the good times... Oh also Matt and I picked out our Christmas tree last night and it is finally fully decorated and I LOVE it.  The tree fills the house with the lovely fresh pine smell and the twinkling lights between different ornaments shine reminders of fond memories.........

These are some of our favorite ornaments.  The red santa on the left hangs at the top of our tree as our 'Christmas star' and I've had it for years.  The Lindsay ornament reminds me of my childhood as us three kids (Shan, Jeff and me) all had our own names spelled out just like this.  The Sugar Bear is Matt's favorite, isn't it cute?  He has has it for twenty years, and it still plays jingle bells when you squeeze it!  The Star Wars one on the right I got Matt a few years ago and he loves it because it is Star Wars of course.

Shan, Ashton sleeping soundly and me and my dad after our ping pong match.

Our tree!