Thursday, December 18, 2008

Oh the drama that is Christmas Cards!

Last year I discovered a love for picture Christmas cards! Why? Because I don't have to write anything, I can just shove them in an envelope and address them and off they go! It suddenly became a no-brainer for me. (I know, I'm so lazy). So I was pretty excited to randomly take a picture I thought would be perfect for this years Christmas card. We happened to take the pic while we were en route to Grand Junction for Black Friday shopping and my sister in law Karen suggested pulling over and taking a pic of me and Greg since the back ground was just so pretty. Greg and my brother were following behind us so they didn't know what our plan was when we pulled over. Which is a good thing, otherwise Greg would have said to just keep going! So we took several pics and this is the one that I used on our Christmas cards.



I do wish that Greg would have been wearing his jacket too since I'm all bundled up and he's not, but what can I do? Well, that was mild in comparison to what happened next. Off to Wal-Mart I went to download our pics and find the "perfect" Christmas background. Then I wrote a cute little message in red writing. Everything looked great on the computer. Hmmm....well, something happened from the computer to the printers. When my cards finally arrived I was so excited I just glanced at them in the store but didn't really pay attention to them.

The next day I settled down to start enveloping them when I noticed that my message in the red writing was barley visible. And I'm not being a drama queen. I'm serious. So much for my not having to write anything plan. My cards sat on our table for a week while I tried to come up with a way to solve the problem. I finally broke down and wrote "Can you find our hidden message" on the back of each stinkin' card. I wasn't too happy about it but I figured what was a gal to do? And just FYI, my husband thinks to this day that I'm on drugs or something because he can't see the "hidden message" at all!

So on Tuesday I went to my friend Christina's house to watch a movie and our card was laying on her coffee table. She told me it drove her crazy trying to find our message but that her husband finally figured it out. (And then afterwards he wasn't very impressed. Like I said, I didn't do this on purpose!) So I thought, "Cool, people will figure it out!"

Then, last night, I get an email from a cousin with "Hidden Message" in the subject line. I thought, OK, either she found it, or she didn't and it's driving her crazy! So I open it, and all it says is, "when is the baby due?" Oh. My. God. Here is what quickly went through my head: "Am I really that fat?", "Is it because of my coat?", "Am I really that fat?", "What is EVERYONE ELSE going to think?", "Am I really that fat?"

I convinced myself that it was just the phrase "hidden message" and the fact that I was wearing a coat and Greg wasn't as to why she would think this. But of course I quickly got online and IM'd my sister (who as I suspected was online) to see if she got my card yet. And of course, thanks to the mysteries that surround the US Postal Service, she for some reason had not received hers yet, although my cousin lives further away. So unfortunately she wasn't able to voice her opinion as to if I looked pregnant. (Of course she did write, "have you really put on that much weight?" *sigh*)

So I fell asleep last night with visions of all the "Congratulations" emails I'd be receiving today. And of course when I told Greg the story this morning he said, "Well, that means my family is probably going to think the same thing. You know how bad my dad wants a grand child."

I was so thankful this morning when two of my aunts emailed to tell me that they found my hidden message! And I have yet to have anyone ask me today when the baby is due. But had I known that this little "hidden message" business would have drawn people to the conclusion that I was with child I would have just broke down and actually wrote on "real" Christmas cards. So there you have it! I'm officially not pregnant! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

p.s. I'm so not mad at my cousin. Because I can at least appreciate the great blog material she gave me! ;)

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Who, me?

So I stumbled upon this cool website called typealyzer that can figure out what your personality is based on your blog. So I figured what the heck and that I'd give it a shot. Here is what it said about me:
The Performers
The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions


Hmmmm....let me think about this. First of all, the fact that it calls me a Performer? Well, I did minor in Theatre in college and love performing! Check!
I am a very visual person and I love home decor and color and smells! Check!
I do tend to live in my own little world. I've had many people tell me this. Check!
I like to help people to the best of my ability. In fact, my very first major was in counseling. Check!
And do I avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation? Check, Check, Check!

Although I do have to disagree with two things. As much as I love living in my own "bubble" I am such a planner. In fact, my "to do" list for tomorrow is sitting right beside me. And I think I'd make a pretty good manager as long as people do things my way ;)

So, to all my blogger friends, you should analyze your blog as well! I'm curious to see what type of friends I have!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Are you kidding me?

I'm sick. I've been dealing with this crap since Sunday. And it's nothing too drastically bad, but it's annoying. One minute my nose is running, the next minute I can't breathe. I'm coughing and my ears feel like they need to pop. When I talk, it's hard to breathe and I feel like I'm saying words funny. So today I broke down and went to the doctor. I have three GNO parties this week and a table at an all day Holiday Shopping Extravaganza on Sunday, so I really want to feel like a normal person. While I was there, I figured I'd also ask the doctor about a random red patch that showed up next to my mouth last Monday that is chapped and peeling. It doesn't hurt, it's just ugly and I want it to go away.

So after I waited in the doctors office for well over forty minutes past my appointment time, the old geezer finally walks in and asks some random questions that he plugs into the computer. He then looks in my ears, nose, and mouth and checks my heart beat. That was it. Maybe he glanced at the red spot next to my mouth while I was saying "AAAAHHHHHHH", who knows?

What does he prescribe me? Halls menthol cough drops for my throat and nose and Vaseline for the spot on my face.

Are you kidding me?????

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Monday, December 1, 2008

I'm So Thankful!

Greg and I had a GREAT Thanksgiving break! We headed out on Tuesday afternoon and were fortunate to spend the evening with our friend Nell who lives in Canon City. Canon City is located on Hwy. 50, so we did not go out of our way at all! On Wednesday we woke bright and early and continued our journey up to Rangley. We arrived mid afternoon and enjoyed visiting with my brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces throughout the evening.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. And I couldn't wait to eat! Most of my sister-in-laws family lives in Rangely so there was a good size crowd and LOTS OF FOOD! No wonder I love Thanksgiving! Karen (my sister-in-law) makes the best home made dressing and rolls! Yum-o! Karen was also hosting a book party for me with The Body Shop at Home so I set up a display of products so everyone could sample and smell. It was a big hit! I even recruited one of Karen's nieces to become a consultant!


After we ate David (my brother) took Greg and I on a short sight-seeing drive. Afterwards we were able to settle down for the evening with more visiting and we even tried to watch a movie.

Then came Black Friday! We all got up bright and early so we could make the one and a half hour drive to Grand Junction to spend the day. The drive there was beautiful! There was just enough of a light snowfall the night before to make everything pretty!




We hit the mall first and it was crowded, but I think that's part of the fun of Black Friday! I didn't buy anything, instead Greg and I took turns shopping with each of our nieces so they could buy each others Christmas presents as well as birthday presents for their mom. Once everyone had shopped til they dropped, we cruised on over to Famous Dave's for some tasty bar-b-que! (This Southern gal never turns down a bar-b-que dinner!) It wasn't quite as tasty as my hubby's bar-b-que, but then again, maybe I'm just a little biased. ;) From their the gals went to some cute downtown boutiques and then we all met up again at a Christmas craft fair where Greg and I took this cute pic with our nieces Emily and Braylee. They are just too precious!



After the craft fair we headed on over to the movie theatre where we watched "Four Christmases". And let me tell ya, that movie did not disappoint! It was knee-slappin' hilarious! Greg and I actually want to go to the movies and watch it again. It's that funny. I guess it doesn't help that I love Reese Witherspoon and Greg loves Vince Vaughn. It was a two thumbs up for me!

The movies were followed by a quick trip to the pet store (just for fun!) and to a sporting goods store. Afterwards, everyone was tired so we headed back to Rangely and capped the night off with some yummy Thanksgiving leftovers!

We left around noon on Saturday afternoon and we decided to take a different route back to Lamar. We thought it would have been fun to take I-70 into Denver and spend the evening there. Oh if only I had a magic crystal ball.....

Shortly after we passed Glenwood Springs we got stopped in traffic for over two hours. It was horrible. And the reason was because the interstate has two separate roads, the road for the westbound traffic is slightly higher on the mountain than the eastbound road. Well, a semi went over the westbound highway and lets just say there was a major wreck.

From where we were parked we couldn't see any of this. But, the guy parked next to us happened to be a wrecker on his way to Denver so he was able to talk to the wreckers to find out what was going on. He did tell us that there was one fatality, which was really sad. I'm not sure what time the wreck happened but it must have happened shortly before we got there, because a guy from the Department of Transportation made everyone crunch in together so wreckers and ambulances could get through. We happened to stop before the accident to get lunch and fill up on diesel, so it really made me think, "that could have been us".

As if that wasn't enough, after we were finally able to get back on the road, about an hour later we were driving through the town of Avon. I was telling Greg a story about how much I hated that town because of an experience my sister and I had when I was driving through it several years ago. Not two minutes later, the next thing I know we were lost control of our truck and were sliding over both lanes of traffic. We ended up in the meridian and I just knew we were headed straight into the oncoming traffic on the other side. I freaked out! Luckily Greg manages to stay calm in the most stressful of situations so he clicked it into 4 wheel drive and asked (um, yelled) for me to tell him when the lane was clear. He knew if we stopped we'd be stuck. Somehow we got back on the road safe and sound. How we didn't hit anything is beyond me.

Unfortunately, things didn't get any better from there. I was pretty shook up about the whole near death experience and I was ready to just call it a night. Even though technically we had only driven three hours. But Greg insisted that the roads would be worse in the morning. I glanced at the map and noticed that we had to go over Vail Pass, so I called David to see how dangerous the pass was. (Greg warned me before I called not to tell him that we almost died, because according to him everything was peachy keen). So I kept the drama queen inside of me in check and my brother said the same thing that Greg did and that we should really make it to Denver. *Sigh* There's really nothing like the feeling one gets when one is driving down an icy road on a mountain in the dark. To say that it sucked would be putting it mildly. And of course my stomach was in knots from our near death experience, so I really had to pee. Like, bad. But, before we could exit at the next town, wouldn't you know, we get stuck in traffic. Again. This time we were at a stop for an hour and then it turned into a slow crawl. All I could see were red lights from the other cars brake lights. I have never considered peeing in a cup so bad in my life. How I held it is beyond me. Men are so lucky.

Needless to say, we never quite made it to Denver. Around 9:00 P.M. I knew we were approaching a hotel that we had stayed at back in April, so I convinced Greg to just stay there. We were tired and hungry. Not even the brand new Irish Pub with delicious potato and onion soup could revive us, so off to bed we went.

Sunday wasn't much better. The roads were extremely foggy until we got into Denver. (We were only fifteen miles away). The roads in Denver were wet but very easy to manage. That is, until we got past the airport. Then we were greeted yet again by icy roads. Luckily, we knew how what to do, so no damage was done! It did take us about an hour to drive maybe twenty miles. But after that, the roads were miraculously clear and dry! However, the wind speeds decided to reach 60 mph, so we had to laugh at all the tumbleweeds that crossed our path! I swear, I've never seen so many tumbleweeds in my life until I moved to Colorado! Who would have thought!

To sum it all up, normally if someone were to ask me what I'm thankful for around this time of year, I would say the normal things: good health, friends, family, blah, blah, blah. This year, however, I'm so thankful that we have not been in a car wreck!!!!