Guess what?

I'm stuck in DFW airport overnight. Why? Cuz I misread my itinerary and missed my first flight, which led to a missed connection to Seattle. What's worse than finding a comfortable sleeping position when pregnant? Finding a comfortable sleeping position on an airport cot when pregnant. Oh, and did I mention that the restaurants and shops closed at 8:30 (which is about 30 minutes BEFORE I knew I was going to be stuck here overnight)? That lovely gem of information is only enhanced by the fact that all the vending machines in the terminal are "CURRENTLY UNDERGOING PROCESSING". I don't know what that means in vending machine-ese, but in real-life, it means that they don't accept currency and don't dispense food or drinks. Good thing I stashed a bag of cookies in my bag. Looks like it will be dinner and breakfast.

I'll be back later in the week to really blog about my vacation. As you hopefully understand, I'm just not in the mood right now.

Has It Been A Whole Week? and other blog updates

Hello, blogosphere!

Apparently, its been a week since my last entry. My bad! Actually, we've been snowed in since Wednesday night and I've made good use of my time checking things off the "Things I'd Like To Do Around The House If I Had One Extra Day In The Week". Remember my request for Sriday? The day between Friday and Saturday? Well, I've had 3days in addition to the weekend and I'm on a roll! Not sure if work will be "open" tomorrow, although it may not matter if I can't get my HHR out of our parking lot. I was able to get out a bit Friday and Saturday, but attempts today were futile!

Anyhoo, enjoy the pictures of this winter wonderland. This is very unusual weather for Seattle. Particularly for our area here by the lake.

In other news, I am honored to be tagged by two fellow blogistas: Davida Chanel from OMIGOSH, Let Me Tell You... and from Patranila from My Beautifully Brilliant Life. Thanks, for the tags, ladies! So, here goes...



1. I am a recovering shopaholic. Seriously. I'm proud to say that I've had my shopping under control since 2001. This is thanks to a great friend, Darlene, who volunteered to be my shopping chaperone during the last stage of my recovery.

2. I really, REALLY, like being pregnant. I squealed with delight the first time I couldn't zip my pants. I relish round ligament pain. And I am completely amazed at the ginormity of my new ta-tas! I recently reached another happy milestone - I can't see my feet anymore. Yay!

3. I have written one and a half fiction novels, but am to lazy to shop them around to get published. The finished one has been sitting on my shelf in a yellow folder since 1998.

4. I asked Santa for a Wii. I've never asked Santa for anything so impractical or expensive, but I went balls out this year. I really want that Wii!!!

5. I have the "gift of goodbye". I can make up my mind to completely sever a relationship with someone and never look back. I usually have a moment or two of sadness or disappointment, but by the end of the week I'm so over it. So, as you can gues, I've never gotten back together with an ex-boyfriend.

6. I love, love, LOVE watching those cheesy court shows. My favorites are Judge Mathis, People's Court, Judge Alex, and the newly discovered Judge Karen. I'm so embarrased to even mention that. You know with all these days off what has been the tv soundtrack to my puttering around the house. LOL!

Now, I get to tag 6 folks I'd like to know more about. Only, there is some kind of tag epidemic sweeping the world wide web right now and lots of people have already been tagged, so here's two folks that haven't been tagged that I'd like to know more about.(Nilsa, you get a pass because you're already answering a lot of questions on your blog.)

1. kenge at Treading Water

2. Reiko! at God's Favorite Shoes

Can you help me, please?

Okay, I have always been extremely terrible at naming things. I can be stumped for hours at a time simply creating a username. My Barbies all kept whatever name was printed on the box. I have named two dogs. The last one, I started thinking of names in the early 90s so I would be ready with a good name if/when I ever finally got a dog. It took me two weeks to name this blog.

So, with that said, I need your help picking out a name. No, not a name for baby. We have a list of those (another example of me starting years in advance). My fantastic, amazing, super great friend is throwing me an online shower - complete with pre- and post-baby blog, photos, games, etc. She called me two weeks ago and asked me to pick out a name for the URL. Two weeks ago. And today, I got nothing.

Any ideas?

Starbucks vs. McDonald's

So, among other mega-conglomerates, the Seattle area is home to Starbuck's HQ. Well, in the last few months, McDonald's has started serving (pretty yummy) coffee shop-style products as well - lattes, cappucino, espresso, iced coffees. As soon as they rolled out this new section of the menu, they launched a full-on attack on Starbucks. There were commercials of people sitting in a Starbuck's-looking coffee shop finally realizing that they were paying too much for mediocre coffee. Snapping out of it, kicking off pretentious clothing and over-pronouncing words and running with glee to their nearest McDonald's. Those commercials were great too watch. The latest phase of advertising has been about billboards lining the highway very near Starbucks HQ (and elsewhere in the area that read

Four dollars for coffee is dumb.

.

There's also my favorite commercial where a woman comes up to the counter and rattles off a super long coffee shop style order (Come on, we've all done it - "I'll have a vente half-decaf skinny vanilla latte slightly foamy please"), then she realizes she's at McDonald's and rejoices in the fact that all she has to order is a medium coffee. Hilarious.

Now, since I think Starbucks coffee tastes burnt and is over-priced, I've really enjoyed this little media blitz. But, Starbuck's is beginning to get embarrased. Even though their media people keep saying that they will not join in the pettiness of McDonald's ad campaign, they've been releasing statements everyday saying that they think the campaign is juvenile and that Starbucks does not resort to tit-for-tat advertising.

Only in Seattle, would news of a Starbucks/McDonald's designer coffee war be a headline in the news even though we're in a massive global financial crisis, at least two wars and political corruption exposes.

Christmas Traditions

Lots of my blog friends have been mentioning Christmas traditions lately, so I think I'll join in on the fun. I'd love to hear from y'all too about your favorite (or most hated) Christmas traditions.

My mom's family hangs out all of Christmas day. There's a big dinner, lots of desserts and presents passed around from the name draw. Then, we get down to business - family games! We have the best rounds of Scattegories, Charades, MadGabs, and any other manner of group interactive games going. It lasts into the night.

My dad's family bumbles awkwardly about in a rented hall for one hour (count it, one hour) of catered dinner on Christmas Eve. Everyone sits in their "cliques" and we fake hug and yell Merry Christmas on our way out the door almost as soon as we came in. It's so insincere, but its a ritual. My flight gets in very late this year so I'll have to miss out this time (darn!).

My most favorite Christmas tradition, though, is waking up very early on Christmas morning at my mom's cinnamon and peppermint smelling house in my new "Christmas pajamas" and sneaking across the hall to crawl in her warm bed until its really time to wake up. Now that I'm married, I have to sneak back to my room to be there when hubby wakes up, but its so worth it for those few quiet moments with my mom.

A snapshot from my awesome childhood

This is a picture of me and my dad, circa 1981 in the field across the street from my grandmother's house. This is my favorite picture. My mom took this (she is such an amazing photographer). I think this photo captures the essence of my early childhood. I'm hanging out with my family do something extremely simple, but most likely having the time of my life.

This little girl is now expecting a little one of her own, my dad long ago ditched the Member's Only jacket and tight jeans and my mom rarely has the time to find and capture moments as beautiful as this. This picture is my little reminder of a time when things weren't complicated and my only care in the world was keeping this kite from crashing to the ground. And, as always, my mom was there to catch my moment of success and dad is cheering me on.

Christmas at the Condo

Well, we finally made our way to the Christmas tree lot, where I subjected my husband to unraveling, propping up, fluffing, then discarding about six trees before I found one that was the right size.

Hubby doesn't believe in measuring trees before he buys them. Because of this, we had to move our dining room table partly into the kitchen, then give up use of the entire sliding patio doors last Christmas. He bought a 9'x4' tree to fit in a 7'x3' space. Therefore, my plans for a festive foyer had to be diverted to an unusable dining room, patio entry/exit.

Anyhoo - I put myself on the tree-finding committee this year and we made out okay. The tree is still about a foot wider than I wanted, but at least it fits in the space.

I still don't understand why he insists on having a Christmas tree - and a live one at that. We are always in Oklahoma for Christmas so the tree sits twinkling alone on the days surrounding Christmas. Now that we're living in Washington and the front, side and rear of our condo are surrounded by pine and furs, I suggested that we just decorate one of those trees already naturally outside. We can enjoy them through one of three picture windows. No dice.

So, here's the before and after of our 2008 Christmas tree. Thought I'd post it to add a little joy to your season. *cue holiday music in the backgroun*

Small wonders never cease to amaze

Our first look at our little one. Boy or girl? We swore the tech to secrecy. We'll leave it for the big moment at delivery.