The Final Day of 2008

I'm excited about today! It helps that I had a great first night back on the front end last night. The supervisors and the manager were all happy to have me back and told me so - nothing like pumping up my ego:) My partner was late so I got to do go-backs for the first hour. Most people don't like go-backs but I love doing them. It gives me a chance to see what we have while I'm putting away the things that people decided they didn't want. After that, I got to cashier all night! I thought for sure I wouldn't be cashiering on my first night back. It was fun. And my closing responsibilities were the easiest of all. They call it BTC which means Button, Tapes & Coffee. I stand 'guard' with a devise in my hand while the supervisors pull the tills and the manager pulls the jewelry out of the case. If anything happens, I push the buttons and the police come. Once that's done, I pull all of the register logs and check them and then put new ones back in for the next day. After that, I clean the coffee grinders, which is just wiping them down, vacuuming the coffee up and changing the trash bags. Usually the BTC person cleans the office too but my partner did that so I only had to vacuum rugs to help her finish up. It was a perfect night!

Today we are headed over to Bonnie's house for a NOON Year's Eve party for the kids. We were out of town last year so didn't get to go so we are excited about getting to go this year. I just hope I don't get into too much trouble for skipping Stroller Strides this morning:) My plan was to get the house cleaned instead, but I'm not getting a whole lot of that done.

I have to work tonight from 5-9:30. I thought for a minute last night that I would get tonight off because I saw the signs that said we were closing at 5 tonight. Surely if we close at 5 I wouldn't need to come in at 5, right?! I should know better. There are things happening in that warehouse probably all night long! I have a feeling I'll be getting to do some of that stocking I was wanting to try out!

As you all have learned by now, I tend to get a little excited about food. I think that is what I love the most about New Year's Eve - indulging in all of that good food that isn't all that good for you. Even though I have to work tonight, I will be indulging in some good food! But, instead of having lots of different things to choose from, I got just one. One sinfully little 'ol thing that, quite frankly, I'm surprised I haven't busted into yet. And actually, I've never had it before so I'm all that more excited to try it. It's Brie en Brioche, handmade, layered with spiced cranberries & apples. I'm assuming 'en Brioche' means in bread or something. The rest I understand: brie cheese, spiced cranberries & apples. How can you go wrong with something like that? Plus you bake it so it's going to be warm when it hits my mouth! Oh my gosh, can you imagine it? Warm bread stuffed with heavenly brie cheese and a sweet layer of spiced cranberries & apples? Oh Food Gods of the world - I thank you. And if that wasn't enough, here's how I know that it's going to be good. It has 20 grams total fat! Eight of those are saturated fat. But only a mere .5 grams is trans fat. I can already feel my arteries clogging:) That's okay, I'll work it off next year. But for today, it's glutton city all the way baby! Can I get a Hell Yeah?!

And that's a big fat NO!

To me being laid off that is. I got the official word yesterday that I am safe and would not be laid off! That's good as we've grown quite accustomed to eating around here and would have had a difficult time giving it up:)

Yesterday was also my last day in the deli:( I'm going to miss it. Maybe I'll be able to transfer to the Covington store and work in the deli there at some point! We shall see. Until then, I'm just happy to still have a job! Plus, my hours are finally down to where I wanted them in the first place so it just keeps getting better and better!

Favorite pics from Christmas Eve

I can't believe I forgot to post these pictures! Well, yes I can. I had a great day yesterday but was off for some reason so kept doing stupid things all day - like burning my freakin' arm, doubling the amount of butter that was needed for our sticky buns, etc. Anyway, here are a couple of my new favorite pictures:

In other news, Quinn has started referring to herself in the third person. I don't know where she got this from but it's so darn funny. She'll come up to K.C. or I and say "Quinn wants some milk", "Quinn wants to watch her shows", and so on. Oh, I guess I do say "Mommy needs you to....." an"Mommy wants......" a lot. Maybe that's where she picked it up from. Anyway, she's a smart little cookie, let me tell you! And a funny one at that!

HO HO HO! Merry Christmas!

We had a Fabulous Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! We even had a white Christmas - if you can believe it!

The glow of the tree lighting up the stockings and gifts that Santa brought. The chair was Quinn's idea. She thought that Santa would enjoy sitting down while eating the cookies and drinking the milk. What a thoughtful little girl! The reindeer, she felt, would be okay standing up - thank goodness!

After opening their gifts, they promptly went and played with each others gifts instead of their own! (sigh)


Our self-portrait while eating breakfast. That's cinnamon goo from our sticky buns that I dripped all over my shirt. And yes, my eyes are still screwed up - but much better than before! The other three all look great and happy - just the way I want 'em!


The view outside our front door. Gotta love it - until I have to get out in it to go to work tomorrow night!

Hope you all had a Fabulous day too. Cheers to you!

So Long Service Deli!

Even though I knew it was coming eventually, I was still surprised to see that I'm scheduled on the front end next week. So, this is my last week in the deli:( I'm a little sad as I've really enjoyed working in the deli and actually prefer it to the front end. I'm still holding out hope that I'll end up there next year! But, I'll go to whichever department has a job for me:) (sigh)

To Be Laid Off or Not To Be Laid Off...

...That is the question! Sorry, I had to do that:)

So now the talk around the warehouse is that they are keeping 15 people that were originally on the 'may be laid off' list. I have no idea what number I am on that list but know it's somewhere between 8 and 17 (okay, so I guess technically I DO have an idea of what number I am). So, I'm either safe and won't be laid off or I just missed it by two people and will be laid off. If I did miss it then I guess the good news is that I'll be at the top of the call-back list! Since there were four other people hired on the same day I was, I'm kind of thinking that I'm safe. But that's only if the people who told me what number they are were correct.

I could always find out what number I am on the list, but I can't change anything so why bother? I figure if they wanted to tell me, they'd find me and tell me! I'm okay either way so whatever will be, will be:) Hmmmm, I think my sleep aid is finally kicking in - can you tell?!

Emergency Preparedness & Confusion

I guess we're supposed to maybe get a nice little wind storm around here this weekend. So, we are trying to get ourselves prepared for the possibility of losing power for several days due to downed power lines. We've gathered all of our flashlights - the girls have gathered the ones they got for Halloween to throw in the mix:) They are so helpful! We got our sleeping bags down and any other thing we could think of that we may need. K.C. went to Costco (in Issaquah) to gather water and non-parishables and to also check out the road conditions for me. They are slick in spots but driveable otherwise. Crap! I was hoping for a nice, long weekend off.


In the meantime, The girls are a little confused as to who/what they want to be:


Sydney - Why can't she be a vampire for Christmas?


Quinn - Cowgirl or Supergirl? Why pick?! She's a Super Cowgirl!

Weather, Work & Birthday Stuff

It's snowing again. In the almost two years that we've lived here, this is the first time the snow has stuck around for longer than a day. K.C. took Wed-Fri off this week so he's home with us so I don't have to worry about him out on the roads. Today is my usual grocery shopping/errand day since I'm off but we decided not to get out in it with the girls. It's just not safe around here! I had a lot to do too - get my jewelry cleaned, go to the bank, etc. Instead, we are snuggled in for the day - which isn't all bad. Sydney's Little Gym class has been cancelled for tonight and K.C. hit Safeway earlier so we'd have a few things to get us through the weekend, so we have absolutely no place to be for the rest of the day. How nice is that?!

Last night at work the supervisor told me that she thought I was a good worker and has already told the deli manager that:) That helps! And I found out who the guy was that I mentioned in an earlier post. He's only one of the Assistant warehouse managers. You know, no one important - just the second in command type:) I still have no idea why he talked to me. He didn't say a word to me last night when he was signing off on the deli.

We got The Little Gym reserved for Sydney's birthday party! We decided to do it there because A: We had $100 in gift cards we got for enrolling in the Spring semester early and they can't be used for 'tuition' and B: she loves it so much and our house is just too small to hold everyone that we wanted to invite. This way she can have 20 friends join her for some play time. We invited a couple of my high school classmates that live in this area and have young kids so we hope they can make it. It should be fun. We are encouraging the invitees to make a donation in Sydney's name to The Children's Hospital or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital instead of bringing a gift. We just feel that they get what they need and want from us and family year round so their birthday parties should be all about their friends taking time out of their busy schedules to help them celebrate. And that in itself is gift enough! Plus, the kids that will benefit from any donations made is such a more important gift than anything they could ever unwrap! Without a doubt!

So, that's all that's going on around here! I'm curious if I'll be able to make it to work tomorrow night. K.C. called the office and I guess Issaquah was getting dumped on. We shall see I guess!

By the way, can you believe that Christmas is less than a week away now?! Holy Holly Berries!

Nevermind - no work for me today!

So I had some problems just getting out of our neighborhood while I was on my way to work. The roads are just too icy! I got out of our neighborhood and had a hard time getting going on the ice. The deciding factor was the idiot in an SUV that was coming up on my butt a little too fast while it was obvious that I wasn't moving very fast or far. What do they think - if they come up on me as fast and as close as they can then the ice will all of a sudden give way under my tires and I will be able to miraculously go, all because of them? Idiots!

So, I made it from one entrance into our neighbor to the other and promptly turned back in and went home. The thought of more idiots like that out there plus the fact that if I actually did make it to work unscathed, I'd have to drive those scary roads home at night. Not something that is even remotely appealing to me.

Time and half or not - I'm staying home today!

The Latest Layoff News...

So the talk around the warehouse is that probably most of us won't even get laid off. Some may but could be called back in as early as two days or two weeks. Some people got 'the talk' but didn't get the little letter. Some people were told what number they were on the call back list. I'm somewhere between 8 and 19. Most had at least TWO managers give them the talk. I only had one. Now a lot of them are being approached by the warehouse manager and being told not to worry - if they do get laid off they WILL be called back.

Of course now I've got my mind wrapped around being home with the girls all the time and getting to give them their baths and put them to bed every night. I guess at the very least I'll get to cut my hours down some - assuming I am laid off and then called back.

It's not use worrying about I guess. We'll just wait and see what happens. My feeling is that whether or not I am laid off, I'm going to end up in the Deli. Which is just fine with me:)

Now I'm off to drive on slippery roads to a job I may or may not have in another month! Oh joy!

Our First Snow of the Year!

Well, we couldn't let Houston, of all places, have all of the fun now could we?!

When I left work last night it was snowing. And it's still on the ground this morning and still snowing! But this is what I've been dreading. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE the snow. I love watching it snow and I love playing in the snow. But I absolutely HATE driving in the snow. I hate the idiots who think that because they have an SUV they can drive as usual. I hate the even bigger idiots that don't have an SUV and still think that they can drive as usual - which is usually tailgating and driving wwwaaayyy too fast. I also hate the possibility of that scary, uncontrolled sliding on ice.

Top that off with me having to drive at night on winding, mountainous-like roads and you get me with white knuckles and high blood pressure and so highly strung when I get home that I have to take sleeping pills to go to sleep!

Oh but the thrill in Quinn's eyes this morning when I told her it snowed last night. She was ready to get dressed and go play in it! Maybe Daddy can take them out while I'm working today - I'm not up for it yet as the sleeping pills are still trying to wear off and there were three of us in bed last night so my quality of sleep wasn't good. Seems Quinn slept just fine though. As she should of since she had half the bed and K.C. and I were scrunched on the other half!

Anyway, here's some pictures of our snow fall. Not as much accumulated as Houston but still pretty nonetheless!

Here's a shot out our front door.

And a shot out the garage door.

OUCH! Didn't see that one coming!

So I went to work tonight. Towards the end I'm asked to stop and see one of the managers before I leave. I'm thinking that they are finally going to give me my 90 day review.

Nope. Got laid off instead. Well, technically, not yet. January 6th is the day. It's pretty darn bad if they are laying off permanent employees. So now as positions become available, instead of posting it they'll call the laid off employees to offer them the job first. It's all done based on seniority and I'm at the bottom of that list. Crap! Plus, it's whatever job becomes available first so I could actually get a call to go work in the tire shop or the bakery or stock shelves or whatever. Doesn't matter to me. I just hope I get a call! This could get interesting...

December Celebrations

We celebrated the December Birthdays and Anniversaries last night. It's been a little crazy around here so the girls and I opted to pick up a cake instead of make one. We just didn't know it was going to be so physically challenging picking up that cake:)

After a fine celebratory dinner of Papa Murphy's pizza (gourmet veggie for me, stuffed Chicago style for K.C. and Sydney, Quinn had a little of both and kept asking "What's this? I don't like it!") we broke into this fabulously sinful masterpiece of a cake. We felt, since you all kind of get jipped having your birthday in the same month as Christmas, that you deserved a little something extra special. So, here it is: 7 - yes, S-E-V-E-N, pounds of delicious chocolate goodness. Chocolate cake layers kissed with chocolate frosting inside and hugged by the same frosting on the outside. But that's not all. For the extra special part, it's showered with shaved chocolate all around the sides. That's just pure heaven right there! Nothing but the best for our December peeps!

Here is who we are honoring this month:

Our friend Lori

Quinn's friend Avery

Our nephew Eddie

Our cousin Rudy

Our friend Joel

Quinn's Friend Eva

And a special nod goes to Grandma Martens as we remember Grandpa Martens and their anniversary.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

That's a whole lotta cake! But nothing we can't handle!


Okay, so maybe we'll freeze some of it!



Princess Quinn made it an extra special celebration by donning both a tiara AND a party hat!


Sydney really got into eating!

We hope you all have a great year!

I'm a stranger in a strange land...

...or maybe it's more like I'm just strange! Either way, I had another interesting weekend at work.

I guess I should introduce the cast of characters to you first. The deli consists of these people: The Boys, which includes about 4 or 5 early 20 something young men. The Supervisors, one male and one female, both of whom are more my age. The Manager, who is probably in his 40's. The rest of the crew are women, all around my age with the exception of one or two.

Now for some background on me: I listened to loud music as often as I could and usually with headphones on from my teen years on, so therefore have a hard time hearing. Not really hearing sounds, but distinguishing words from that sound. To complicate things more, most of the people I work with speak with accents so I have an even harder time trying to figure out what words they are saying. I have to really concentrate to figure it out - which is to say that I look at their mouth, squint my eyes and open my mouth, as if that is going to help me. Heck, if I flapped my hands around I'd probably look like I had to sneeze! Couple that with the fact that there's usually a radio blaring in this little echo room I work in and you get the following train wreck!

So I'm making pizzas and daydreaming. That's what I like about the deli. You don't have to talk to anyone if you don't want to. I do a lot of thinking in there while I'm assembling food or doing dishes. There are two other people in there with me at this time. They are working on the table behind me, happily involved in their own conversation. I hear one of them say my name so I turn my attention to their conversation. What the hell? Did she just call me a whore? How am I a whore? I'm just minding my own business, making pizzas. How is that whorish? The nerve of some - that thought is interrupted with my name being said louder. And there it is again - she called me a whore! So I turn around and look at her with a cross between my sneeze face and my "what the f**k did you just say?" face. She's pointing at me. No, not AT me. Past me, over my shoulder, to the door. What kind of game is she playing? She seems pretty adamant that I look. Fine, I'll bite. I turn and look. There's a customer standing at the door. Oh. (long pause) OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! She was telling me there was a customer at the DOOR - not calling me a whore!

It's no wonder, really, that I get the looks that I get. They probably think I'm an idiot. Hell, I'D think that too if all I got from someone was sneeze face stares! I should probably go get my hearing checked!

I was a little disappointed at the vibe of the deli this weekend. I've heard all about the day crew - which is mostly all women, and how they gossip. Even the Supervisor does it. I don't usually have to work with them - maybe only half and hour or so during the shift change on the weekends. I got to experience some of it first hand over the weekend. Although I'm not sure what they were actually saying - they were speaking Spanish - but occasionally they would break out into English and I think I got the jest of who they were talking about and why. I just don't like being around that anymore - complaining about this that and the other. It's negative energy and I don't want any part of it. Then the ladies left and it was the boys' turn. Guys don't gossip. They are just plain mean to each other - right to their faces. That's too confrontational for me. I didn't like the energy from that either. There was one guy in particular that was really doling it out and he got on my nerves fast! Again, too much negative energy. But, towards the end of the night we were back down to our small group of 'night shifters', which is a pretty easy group to work with.

There was something a little strange that happened though. I told K.C. that maybe after my deli stint I'd try to cross train on the floor - which means stocking/moving inventory around. I don't know why buy that sounds fun. Anyway, there's one guy that works on the floor (drives the forklift/stocks - heck, he may even be a manager for all I know) that I'd always see when I was working on the front end. I'd always smile and say hi and he wouldn't even look at me. It was only when I went to the deli that he actually spoke to me - but it was only to tell me that there was a pallet of something or another here or there or somewhere and it was maybe only one time. So I was headed into the break room over the weekend (keep in mind that most people that I worked with and talked to on a regular basis while working the front end don't even recognize me with my deli outfit on) and this man walked right past me, turned and asked me how long 'they' were going to keep me in the deli. I was a little shocked so couldn't say anything right away (probably had my sneeze face on again). I finally said something to the effect of 'just till after the holidays'. He asked if I liked it back there, which threw me into even more of a shock. He just doesn't strike me as the type that would 'get personal'. I said I did and that was the end of the conversation. Strange! So now I'm curious as to why all of a sudden he's decided to talk to me. Maybe I'm not the only one in the world that is totally socially awkward after all! One can only hope!

Well, I know I could go on and on about the events of the weekend but the girls have reached their wits end with me being on the computer! I've been obsessively working on our Year in Review video and they are so over watching TV and eating their meals on the couch upstairs! They want some Mommy time! So, we're going to go out and deliver cards to the neighbors and then go do some shopping! Now that's what I call a good ending to a weird weekend!

And as for the car...

It's running again. The husband of a friend of mine is a mechanic so came over yesterday to help out at a reduced rate. Basically, it's old. And have I mentioned it's sensitive? The spark plugs and something else in that general vicinity can stand to be changed. We didn't let it run long enough when we pulled it out of the garage last Wednesday so it flooded something or another and that was the problem.

My sister had a great idea - getting a new car now while we could get a good deal on one as opposed to waiting until May. It's just that we never seem to get that good deal - even when everyone around us is! Who knows, we may go visit some dealerships around town next week and see what we can come up with. The thought of having a car payment again isn't appealing to me! I'm just happy it's running again - or at least was, I haven't tried it today!

Holiday Lights at Lake Wilderness Lodge

Last night was the Holiday Lights at Lake Wilderness Lodge. We attended last year, not really knowing what to expect, and had fun. I requested the night off work and off we went. It was nice but it seemed like we waited in line all night long! But, we did everything I told the girls we would do:

We saw Santa! Quinn was comparing bellies I guess. She wouldn't go closer to him so my hopes for a great picture to put on our cards this year was lost. Plus, we had to take our own pictures as opposed to the professional ones they had set up last year. I really need a better camera! Sydney let him hold her hand - she's not scared of anything! We ate cookies and drank hot cider while we waited in line for Santa. We didn't get to see him come in on the fire truck this year - we opted to get in line instead and it's a good thing we did!

As much as she wasn't thrilled to be next to this stranger, Quinn was very excited to tell him what she wanted for Christmas. K.C. and I both had this talk with her, explaining what this whole 'going to see Santa' was all about. She asked for princesses:)

We saw friends. This is Jack dressed up like Santa. Quinn's not afraid of him!

We rode the train and took a self portrait. Like my bald eyes? People looked at me funny all night long. I get to start wearing makeup again tomorrow. Oh joy! Anyway, they passed out these stupidly annoying plastic train whistles to the kids. K.C. and I both had headaches by the time we got on the stupid train! We have conveniently lost ours today - oh drat! We drank hot chocolate while we waited in the train line.

It is really pretty all lit up!

At the end of the night the girls got their faces painted. Quinn was really excited to do it but I wasn't sure if she would actually sit there to get it done. She did very well! I Wasn't sure about Sydney either but she sat still and got hers done too.
Jingle Bells for Quinn!

And a Candy Cane for Sydney.

We got home well after bed time, ate a little snack and sent the girls off to dream about the night. It was fun.

Thanksgiving...And all the crap that followed!

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted! I'm almost going through withdrawals:)

Thanksgiving:

We had a good Thanksgiving but it wasn't the nice, relaxing day I had envisioned. Quinn and I were the first ones up - before 8 a.m.! So, we headed downstairs to get the turkey in the oven. I washed it, pulled all of the guts out, or so I thought anyway (those darn gizzards - why do they put them in a different place from the neck and whatever else it was that I pulled out of the cavity?! Every darn year!), patted it dry, rubbed it down with olive oil and Quinn shook the seasonings on it. She'd ask what it was. I'd tell her it's a turkey. She'd laugh. She'd ask what we were doing with it. I'd tell her cooking it so we can eat it. She'd laugh. Then she'd tell me that it was gross and she didn't like it and wasn't going to eat it. I told her I agreed with her and if she didn't want to eat any, that was fine with me. She'd laugh.

K.C. and Sydney got up soon after so we started making our calls to the family to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. K.C. hung up some blinds and I helped out when needed then I set about making the rest of the dinner so it would be done and ready as soon as Mr. Turkey was done. We had mashed potatoes & gravy, corn, stuffing, Szechwan asparagus (hey, it was cheaper than the plain old frozen asparagus and it was super yummy to boot!), rolls, cranberry sauce from the can (a MUST have in our house) and Caesar salad. To drink we had some peach flavored sparkling grape juice and drank it out of wine glasses - it was super yummy too! Dessert was a Costco pumpkin pie with a ton of Ready Whip on it. I did teach the girls the fine art of eating it out of the can:) The pie was disappointing - not enough spice or something. Next year I'll try to make my own I guess.

I had visions of a nice, long nap after dinner so the girls and I headed upstairs. Right as I almost reached my beloved dreamland, Quinn told me she had to go potty. I told her to go tell her Dad. Didn't matter - I couldn't get back to sleep what with everything I needed to get done dancing through my head. grumble, grumble, grumble. I have no idea what it was that I actually did but it kept me busy until Sydney got up from her nap. Then it was time to put up the tree!

That just didn't go as well as it did last year. TWO little hands grabbing at ornaments. New ornaments that required the putting of hooks into them. PMS. PMS. Oh, and PMS. Plus the knowledge that I had to work an eight hour shift the next day, the day after that and the day after that. Not relaxing at all. But, we got the tree up, ornaments on, plugged it in and called it decorated!

The crap that followed:

I was very surprised at how well Black Friday went at Costco. It wasn't as busy as I had thought it would be - just steady throughout the day. I was on the front end all weekend so had been gearing up to face Johnny Q. Public at their worst. But, in fact, the worse part of the day was when they stuck me on the stupid perfume table. UGH! I'm not a perfume wearer. I don't like it - it stinks and gives me a headache. That's not to say that those of you who do wear it stink. I just don't like it in the bottle. Or on people that choose to swim in it. You get the idea. Anyway, I finally told them that I couldn't stand it any more and needed to be taken off that table. I actually said that I'd rather go clean the bathrooms than stand there another minute. They didn't take me up on the cleaning of the bathrooms but they did get someone to take my place at the table. I think I may have lasted about 45 minutes is all.

Saturday was the same as Friday as far a volume. Maybe a little busier. I was paired with a guy that is just a cashier as opposed to 'Front End' like me. So, that meant that I wouldn't get to cashier that day. But, we had a fun day working together so the day went by fast. They stuck me on the perfume table again. At first I said no but then asked how long they needed me there. Only 15 minutes to cover a break. I can do that. And did with no problem - except trying to answer perfume questions. Apparently customers don't like to hear that you think all of it stinks and spending $45 on a bottle is absurd! I didn't say it out loud of course - but that's what I thought every time someone came up and commented on what a great price it was. Huh? I realize it all had celebrity names on it but people actually pay double the price for this crap that gives me a headache? What is the world coming to?!

Sunday didn't start off so well. I woke up with my left eye swollen almost all the way shut and my right eye not far behind. Remember my little allergic reaction to makeup from Halloween? I can't even believe that I went a whole month dealing with it - that's how busy I think I am! Anyway, I thought it was probably time to head to Urgent Care to get it taken care of. Three prescriptions later - Prednisone pills for the swelling, patanol drops for the itching and bacitracin ointment so the open cuts (yes, that's how swollen they were) didn't get infected - and I was only an hour and a half late to work! The good news on all of that is my blood pressure is great, my oxygen saturation level is great and my vision in each eye is 20/15! That Lasik I had done 8 years ago sure has been one of the best investments we've made! Once at work I had a pretty easy day until right at the end. Remember the gal from a previous post that was my annoying assistant when I was cashiering? Well, she finally got her training. She told me that her first time on a register (the day before Thanksgiving) she screwed up and was told that she could get written up. All weekend long she talked about how mad she was that they weren't putting her on a register. Well, at the end of the day they paired us up - she insisted that SHE would be the cashier. Fine with me! Oh, this girl. It wasn't enough for her that she was cashiering. She was actually trying to tell me how to do my job too! It was all I could do to bite my tongue the whole time! I really, really, really wanted to say something sarcastic or mean or any old way just to shut her up and put her in her place. But, I would much rather demonstrate the grace and maturity and class that I strive to teach my girls to do. Stop laughing - it could happen! So, I just smiled the whole time, worked as hard as I normally do and stopped long enough to answer her questions she had (HA!) and give her words of encouragement. Told you it could happen! Technically I'm not being snotty and mean and sarcastic if I'm keeping the words in my head and not letting them flow through my mouth! Of course I've come to see that sometimes people are put into your life as a sort of mirror for you. So, as soon as I got home I gave K.C. a big 'ol hug and kiss and apologized for thinking that I know everything and treating him like he didn't. Lesson learned so could I please be done with this girl already?!

Monday rolled around and I spent the better part of the day catching up our receipts in the checkbook and balancing it all out. I'm banned from wearing makeup for a week and am back in the deli for work for the rest of the year so getting ready was fast and easy. I got the girls all ready to go and got them in the car and...it wouldn't start. CRAP!!!!! My first thought was the battery. It had been sitting outside all weekend and although it hasn't been all that frigid out, my car is a little sensitive. I waited and tried it again a few more times. Nothing. I called K.C. right away so he could start heading home just in case I couldn't get it started then I called a few neighbors until I found one home and asked if they could come give me a jump start. That didn't work. They thought maybe it was the starter. Great. K.C. made it home in good time but I still ended up being about 20 minutes late to work. sigh. K.C. messed with the car and doesn't think it's the started. Now I'm wondering if it's the alternator? Ha - like I really know what I'm talking about! All I know is it damn well better not be that stupid transmission again! We're trying to hold off until May before getting a new car since that's when our tags expire - and so we can save some money for a down payment and all. I have no idea what we're going to do with it now. I guess I'll try starting it again later and see where that gets me.

I don't want to end the post on a negative note so here's some updates on the girls:

Sydney is talking more and more and we can actually understand most of what she says! She's growing up so fast!

Quinn is 100% potty trained! We ended up opening up the big 'ol Costco size box of pull ups and used maybe two of them. She had gone about a week consecutively without going potty in her pull up so I mentioned to her one morning that it was probably time to go to bed with underwear on instead of a pull up. K.C. overheard that so when he put her to bed that night, she was in her underwear. I was at work and got home just in time to hear all about this disaster that K.C. just got done dealing with. (smile). Turns out Quinn had to go potty but didn't quite wake up all the way so he found her in her room, crying, with her pants half-way down and pee all over the place. I totally lucked out on that one! That is the only accident she's had! She's been sleeping in her underwear now for over a week. Sometimes she gets up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night but she hasn't had to be changed at all! What a big girl she is!

I forgot to mention this before so thought I'd bring this post back full circle. Here is what we are thankful for this year:

Sydney: (silence). She's maybe a little too young to get it just yet.

Quinn: Eating. Just in general I guess. Smart girl!

K.C.: Little girls.

Me: The family I was born into, the family I married into, the friends we call our family and the family we started.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving - followed by good crap!

Our Thanksgiving Feast

FLASHBACK - Sydney, Thanksgiving dinner 2007...

...and now.

FLASHBACK - Quinn, Thanksgiving dinner 2007...

...and now.

What's a nice turkey like you doing in a fridge like this?

21 pounds, 14 ounces. That is the size of the turkey I bought today. What on earth is a family of four going to do with 21 pounds and 14 ounces of turkey? Okay, stupid question - we're going to EAT it of course. Well, only three of us are going to eat it since one of us is a vegetarian. And really two of the other three only eat as much as one so there's only two. And that's only if one and/or two of the two decide to eat any at all. It could end up being only one or one and a half eating on this poor, young albeit heavy turkey. One things for sure though. If that bird requires a wake up time before 8 a.m. to get it in the oven so it's done in time, the vegetarian ain't cookin it! And you can bet the farm on that! Get it? Turkey farm? Gobble, gobble? Hey, is that a turkey in your fridge or are you just happy to see me? I've got a million of 'em! It's a shame those are the only two I can think of right now:) Moving on....

Today was a good day. I went down to get my food handlers card. Got a perfect score on the test so chances are good that I won't be spreading salmonella around to my family for Thanksgiving. Now there's something they can be thankful for! After that I did our hunting and gathering, or some "normal" people call it grocery shopping. It was so nice. K.C. took the week off so the girls were home with him and I got to shop in peace. In fact I had to keep telling myself to slow down - no one was going to have a melt down (at least not anyone that I was concerned with), no one was going to have to go potty (except me - my bladder sure isn't the same after two kids), I could fill the cart as full as I needed/wanted since I didn't have two little butts taking up precious space in it. I didn't have to stop at every single sample cart to keep the peace and harmony flowing around us. I indulged in a few unnecessary purchases (brie cheese and spinach/artichoke dip). I finished up my Christmas shopping! I remembered to buy wrapping paper. I hit another store and found every single thing that was on my list! Even the things I added to my list while I was in the store - that still counts as being on the list, right? Technically they were on the list. I'm sure there's some stupid rule about the list has to be completed before entering the store but, quite frankly, it's just not as easy to write it down when your driving:)

I had plans to go see Twilight tonight. I was going to go by myself while K.C. took Quinn to her class. But, one of my friends was going to meet some of her friends so invited me along. K.C. kept asking about it so I invited him along. Luckily Jen wasn't working tonight so she took the girls in and fed them dinner while K.C. and I went on a date. With three other women. One of them was pregnant. But not by K.C. How do I get to these places? Are you kind of seeing how my mind works and what I have to deal with every day? Geesh! The movie wasn't as good as the book but it was entertaining enough for me. K.C. hasn't read the book and thought the movie sucked. The girls had fun playing with Dylan and Braden so it wasn't all a waste.

Here are some new Quinnisms:

After eating half a bowl of some potato soup I made: "I don't like this. I just want to keep it out of my mouth until I like it."

This is one of those things she says her way that I love: "Mommy/Daddy, will you take me a bath?"

And, when her dad got up to use the rest room, she knocked on the door and said: "Daddy! Come out here so I can beat on you!"

Yep, today was a good day!

From Cold to Hot in One Shift

Friday night at work was spent making pepperoni pizzas. LOTS of pepperoni pizzas. They are on coupon right now so we are selling LOTS of take-and-bake pepperoni pizzas, therfore creating a need for deli workers to make LOTS of pepperoni pizzas. It's that whole supply and demand concept I've heard so much about:) Did I mention we made LOTS of 'em?

The point to all of that is that a couple of the floor managers were helping to make all of these pizzas. One of them either is or was the bakery manager so asked if I wanted to pick up a few extra hours. Since I didn't work on Wednesday (K.C. was out of town) I decided a few extra hours would help the pay check a little. So, I went from the nice, comfortable 41 degree work room to the hot, hot, HOT bakery. I peeled off as many layers as was appropriate but since my base layer was my thermo pants and shirt, I was pretty much screwed!

One thing is for sure. I could not work in the bakery regularly. Here's why. My first task was to make pecan pies. I did this by scooping pecans into this jug until it measured 14 ounces. Next, I dipped this other jug into this vat of liquid that held I don't know what. I can only assume sugar, butter and whatever else goes into making pecan pie. Once I cleared out the scale, I poured this liquid into the jug of pecans until it measured four pounds. Yes. FOUR freakin pounds! Then I poured that jug into a pie crust - trying not to spill it over the sides but not being very successful at that. That all wasn't the problem. The problem was I had to keep talking myself out of jumping in the vat of buttery, sugary, whatevery peacan pie filling goodness and swimming around while sucking in mouthfuls of it.

And if that wasn't bad enough, my next task was to spray pies that had already baked with some sort of glaze. And when I say spray, I don't mean from a stinking can. I mean this stuff was ran through some sort of machine that heated it up and then I used what looked like a paint sprayer to spray two ounces of it on top of the pies. Three carts worth of pies. Each cart holds 24 pies. I had 72 opportunities to turn the sprayer just so so that I got some over spray on my face. On purpose. I think I gained 10 pounds just from the over spray. It was good that I got to taste it a little. It quieted the voices in my head that were telling - no, YELLING at me - to turn the sprayer and spray it directly in my face. Or, rig it up so that I could take a nice, long, hot glaze shower under it.

I'm so ashamed of the thoughts that went through my head. And this is why, when asked on Sunday if I wanted to pick up a few more hours, I politely declined and got the heck out of there as fast as I could before I changed my mind! Yes, I think I'll stay in the deli where I'm not tempted at all to do anything inappropriate with the food.

While Daddy's Away, Us Girls Will...

...rebuild the fence?! This is what we woke up to this morning:

I went out the garage to take the trash bins out and opened the gate to put the dogs in the yard and viola! North fence panel blown down to the ground. Why do these things always happen when K.C. is out of town? In my last post I was going to mention that one of the last times he went out of town (last year around this time) we had issues with that same fence panel. That time the dogs had pushed their way through a couple of the boards so I had to mend those and put the outer 2x4 back up. I noticed then that the fence was a piece of crap! It's held together by nails and nails only. The only screws in it are what I put in it when I fixed it last time and any that K.C. may have put in it. Those parts stayed together this time!

Of course the wind is still blowing and while I was out there trying to figure out how to put it back up by myself, it started raining. Great. I finally decided that I needed to take the whole thing apart so that I could work with it better - and so it didn't blow me to the ground and take me out! THAT wouldn't be good! The girls slept in - thank goodness - and once they got up I set them up in front of the TV. Once I reached the point of needing to use the screw gun it started raining again. I don't mind working in the rain but the gun I was using is electric. Not a good mix. So, I came inside and plugged in the cordless one because, of course, the battery is dead in it. Got the girls some breakfast, I ate breakfast and started this post and then headed back out to see what I could do. I've never built a fence before but I know that whoever built this one either didn't know what they were doing or cut corners and did a crappy job. The top boards were cut too short so aren't even long enough to wedge in between the posts. Crappy, crappy, crappy! Whoever did it should be ashamed of themselves!

So after messing around with it off and on all morning and probably providing hilarious entertainment for the neighbors - picture this: hot pink velour pants tucked into blue, white and brown polka dot rain boots with an over sized hooded sweatshirt on, hood up. Heck, you don't have to try to picture it - here is a picture of it (Quinn played photographer and this is the best of the bunch):

Now picture that pink/blue/white/brown mess picking up boards taller than I am, tripping over grass/bugs/invisible obstacles, trying to nail/screw/act like I know what I'm doing all the while the wind is knocking me and the fence around and the rain is making a great big muddy mess. Heck, I'd be laughing if I saw that sight out my window! So, I gave up. I decided that the only way this fence was going to get fixed was by getting the appropriate materials to do the job. Something that is beyond me at this point and time. Well, basically we need some more boards for that. And I would get my hide chewed if I ran on down to the local hardware store and purchased wood when K.C. can get what he needs at work. So, I'm leaving it to him! I hope by this time next year it'll be fixed:) Welcome home Daddy, welocome home!

Meanwhile.....

You'd think the wind storm was inside the house based on this hair! Can't beat that smile though!

A Day Without Daddy

Sigh. K.C. headed off to the airport around 3 or so this morning. He's in Denver for some meetings but will be home tomorrow afternoon sometime.

The girls and I slept in. Once they got me up it took a minute for me to realize that the wind was blowing outside. It took another minute for me to remember that we never took the shade tent down earlier in the week. It took yet another minute for me to envision where in the neighborhood our tent had probably ended up by this time. I ran downstairs and happily saw the tent, still in our yard but on it's side. Thank goodness I had enough sense to tie one little string from it to the house! I battled with that and finally got the stupid thing down and put away. I guess I should explain why the tent was up. I finally booted the dogs out of the house for good. Like the cats, they are now yard and garage dogs. One or both of them peed three times in one week in the house. Once was on Quinn's new sleeping bag. K.C. thought up a few excuses for them. None of them were good enough for me so out they went. I put the tent up because we were having a rainy week so wanted to give them some shelter in case they were outside and we weren't home when it started to rain at any given time. I remember the wind last year so asked K.C. to take it down over the weekend but he didn't get around to it. Thus, the tent blown over in the yard this morning.

After coming inside our smoke detectors started going off. What the heck? I ran upstairs and checked around and by the time I was headed back downstairs they stopped. Weird.

Alex came over and after lunch both of my girls went down for naps. Alex and I hung out until the smoke detectors started going off again. I waited, thinking that they would turn themselves off in about 30 seconds like they did the first time. They didn't. Alex is plugging her ears and I'm trying to reach them while standing on a bar stool. I had to get my step stool to put on top of the bar stool to finally reach the one downstairs. I tried to reset it and when that didn't work I took the thing off and pulled the battery out and unplugged it. Then I grabbed Alex so she didn't get scared and ran upstairs to do the same to two more, one of which was in Quinn's room. She woke up and thanked me for shutting it off:) The rest of them stopped going off so they are still in tact. I'm afraid to put the other ones back up because I really don't want to be woken up to that sound in the middle of the night! But, if I need to be woken up then it would really suck that they aren't up and plugged in. What if the others go off? This will either be a nice, peaceful night or it will really suck! Maybe I'll get the chair and step stool in place just in case.The wind is really blowing here, as I already mentioned, so I thought maybe the wind set it off. Alex's mom thinks that maybe I just need to change the batteries. Maybe I'll try that - if only I had the right size!

The evening got better as the girls donned their little aprons and hats to help me make pizza for dinner. They both did a great job of spreading the sauce on the crust, sprinkling the cheese on it and putting on the turkey pepperoni. And they ate every last bite that was on their plates too! Here are a few pictures of them passing the time while waiting for the pizza to cook. They both demanded to eat in their aprons and hats. Who am I to complain? It's like wearing a big bib!

A Shift In The Service Deli and A Trip To Urgent Care

I meant to post this yesterday but actually MADE myself do nothing but lay on the couch all day. Well, I did feed myself and the kids. The motivation to lay on the couch and do nothing was there - it was the staying on the couch that was hard. I always feel so guilty! Anyway, it was much needed and I even got a little nap in.

As I suspected, I LOVE working in the deli! I made pizzas, harvested chickens (pulled the skin off the cooked rotisserie chicken and pulled the meat off the bone, basically) and sprayed down some trays. I didn't work up a sweat and, in fact, actually got a little chilly. SO nice!

While I was doing all of that, K.C. was taking Sydney to the Urgent Care. When I was waiting for him at his office I was playing with Sydney in the car (Quinn was sleeping) and noticed that she had what looked like blood in her ear. That freaked me out until I remembered that we had pasta and sauce the other night and she has this weird thing where she likes to stick her food in her ears. I don't ask, I just accept it. So I thought it was just pasta sauce. Then I thought that maybe she stuck something else in her ear (food wise) and maybe it's stuck in there and is infected. Better be safe than sorry so as soon as K.C. came out I told him where to take her and off they went. And boy did I feel stupid when I got a text from them that said: earwax. Oh..hee hee.

I survived another weekend at work!

I got to cashier all weekend. It made the days go by faster, doing something different. I don't think I've screwed anything up yet so that's good!

Friday night my assistant was a gal that use to be pretty darn lazy (I think she's all of 19 or 20). She started not long after me and getting her to do anything fast or completely was torture! She said she got in trouble (must have had a review) and that she's on probation during her probation so she's doing everything by the book. She totally kicked butt so that was a nice surprise. It was a good night.

Saturday my assistant was a gal that started working there before me (maybe by a month) and she was so perturbed that I got cashier training before she did. It didn't get any better as the day went along and the other 7 people that got cashier training with me were all on registers or talking about being on/getting on a register. But, that didn't stop her from trying to tell me how to cashier! SO annoying! I just ignored her and kept telling myself "she's only 23, she's only 23 - you were annoying when you were 23 too, she's only 23...." until she tried to count the money out of my drawer. Then I had to tell her to get her hands off, I was responsible for it so therefore I was the only one that would be touching it. If she had cashier training she would know that:)

Today was odd. I had three different assistants: The first one was on his second day of work. So, not only did I have to try to concentrate on what I was doing but I had to train him on what he was doing. After my first break I got paired with a second assistant who was on his first week there. After lunch I got paired with yet another guy that was on his second day as well. I'm not sure if they are just really that short handed or if they had enough confidence in me that I 'got' it and could handle it. Either way, I made it through the day - even got off 1/2 hour early!

I got to meet the service deli manager on Saturday. I was on a register so we didn't get to talk. I got to thinking about it on Friday and really hope that I'll be able to keep the same schedule - or close to it. Actually, I'm really hoping to be able to get an extra day off out of it but I won't hold my breath! I'm supposed to start back there on the 17th so I'll try to get with the manager to find out what my schedule is going to look like. Until then, I'm enjoying cashiering but still hate the rest of it: doing the cleaning at closing, folding clothes when we're slow (although that's when I get a chance to see the cute kids clothes...and if they have a size to fit both girls!) and actually, Johnny Q Public hasn't been that bad. I must be getting more tolerant in my old age! I'm hoping the deli is going to be as nice as I think it is. I guess if it's not I can always move back to the front end. Stay tuned!

The Post of Many Titles

Pretty much this is an update on the week. I've thought about posting each one as they happened but just couldn't get it together for whatever reason to do it. So here they are together, in one post, for your reading pleasure:)

Quinnisms:
These are just funny ways she says certain things:
When she wants me to turn my head and look at something she says, "fix your head this way"
Instead of saying next to me/you/Daddy, etc., she says ".....benext to me/you/Daddy, etc."
While in the car running errands on Friday:
Quinn: "Mommy, I'm getting sore. My bottom hurts"
Me: "I'm sorry baby. Is it because you haven't had a bath in a couple of days?"
Quinn: "No. It's because you're driving too fast silly. Drive slowly Mommy!"
And K.C. called this one into me at work today. After having lunch he gave the girls each one of those bite-sized 3 musketeer bars for dessert. This is what Quinn had to say about it after eating it: "MMMMMMMM. Chocolate covered chocolate! My FAVorite!"(she IS my daughter!)

Sydney Started It!
We're all sick. Except K.C. He somehow managed to avoid this round. Sydney started coughing and it sounded bad. I started sneezing and getting a sore throat. Quinn started losing her voice. THAT was tragic for her! The girls have chest colds and I have the whole head/chest combo cold. I can't remember the last time I slept through the night. Which makes my combo cold even more miserable. Usually both girls are up at least one point during the night - and it's usually different times. UGH! Needless to say, this is the reason I haven't posted anything in awhile. We skipped Stroller Strides Wednesday and Friday. I called in sick to work on Wednesday for the first time. We managed to get out for our monthly MOMs club meeting and to do some grocery shopping. Oh, and a hair appointment, but that's a different post. That's about all we did. I tried to sleep/rest in the afternoons while Sydney was napping. Quinn wouldn't hear of it. I don't know where she gets her energy. Why can't THAT be contagious?! I guess it could be worse. There was a little girl with her daddy at work yesterday (she was maybe 4 or 5). She had the horrible sounding cough that my girls have. All of a sudden - bbbaaarrrfffff. She threw up! I was just happy that I was on a register so couldn't leave to clean it up! They gave that fun job to a gal that just started working there that day. Welcome to Costco!

I Took It All Off!
My hair that is! Charissa gave me a fabulous new cut. It's so easy too. My hair always does so much better the shorter it is. I just get lazy and don't go in for cuts so it grows out and then begins this whole cycle of battling with it. I'm finally getting wiser and made my next appointment before I left from this appointment. I never had this problem in CO but it's just humid enough here that certain parts of it just flip up and it doesn't matter what I put in it, on it or around it. It still does that but I think it works with this new cut - or at least if I tuck it behind my ears you don't see the flip. Anyway, I'm vowing to keep up with it so that I don't have any more thoughts of shaving my head out of frustration!






Okay, so this picture isn't the best I've ever taken. I feel like crap here. My nose is all red from blowing it - always attractive! To top off the whole cold thing, I've got some weird thing going on with my eyes. I think it's an allergic reaction to some makeup or something but they are both red, swollen and gross! And you can't really see my hair here so don't know why I'm even posting it! Maybe just so you can see how pathetic I really am right now:) Does my nose look big to you? Does it always and I'm just now noticing? Or is it the whole coloring/lighting issue I've got going on? Great, yet another thing to obsess over.


Sign Of The Times
We are learning sign language! At Sydney's Little Gym class we learned a couple of signs (just the first couple of weeks - don't know if they keep forgetting or what but they haven't taught us any new ones recently). I was very impressed with both girls at how well they remembered the signs and how well they could do the signs. So, I thought what a great way to be able to communicate with them when we can't hear each other (should come in handy later in life probably - school functions etc.). I remember my sisters and I learning how to sign the alphabet from the back of a book or flyer out of a movie case or something. Looking back, I'm impressed we did that! Then we would try to 'talk' to each other at dinner and thought it was so funny that our parents didn't know what we were saying. Of course, spelling out each word took forever for us to do and forever for the other person to understand so we didn't do much talking. But it was fun! Later in life, my friend Kristie and I took some sign language classes in CO and had fun with it. That's a whole other story in itself for another day. I remember a few things from it so showed those signs to the girls. Anyway, I looked up some signs on ASL Browser and try to use them as often as possible. I always show the girls the new sign and 'quiz' them on the signs we've already learned. I am so impressed with their learning skills! They ARE little sponges! So these are the signs that they know so far:

play, eat, more, sorry, mother, father, sister, sweet, dreams, hungry, sleep and, of course, I love you. Not too bad for just a little over a week's worth of work!

Last Day on the Front End
Today was my last day working the front end. I'm off to the service deli tomorrow night. I got my hat & my shoe covers and have pulled my long underwear out of hiding so I'm all set to go. I have to get my food handlers card though and then do an in-house food handling deal. I sure hope it's all as good as I think it's going to be. I'm giving up 1-1/2 hours of time-and-a-half pay on Sundays - good for lowering my hours but bad for the loss of pay.

Well, I guess you're all caught up on our lives now:) I'm off to make and eat a Caesar salad and watch The Amazing Race and Desperate Housewives on dvr! Do I know how to have fun at 10:00 p.m. on a Sunday night or what?!

November Birthdays!

It's time to celebrate November Birthdays!

This is who we are honoring this month:

Darron - turning 39 in Korea!

Scott - another one turning 39 in an exotic local: Wyoming!

Colby - how can it be that you're already 1?!

Braden - seems like you've been around a lot longer than just 1 year!

Anna Lee - welcome to the big 3!

As always, if I've missed anyone (anniversaries included) please let me know!

I don't know why but pizza is always a good birthday celebration food for us. So, we made one cheese and one turkey pepperoni for dinner.

For dessert we opted to make a super yummy Deep Dish Almond Apple Pie (Pampered Chef recipe) since the weather is definitely Fall-like. We topped it with vanilla ice cream and stuffed our bellies!

Hope anyone having a birthday or anniversary this month thoroughly enjoys it! Wish we could be there to help you celebrate!

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More on work....

My cashier training went well yesterday. I ended up cashiering my whole shift last night. I don't think I screwed anything up - guess we'll see tomorrow night! There's a lot to remember but I think it's just one of those things that once I do it a few times it'll get easier to coordinate everything (greeting the member, giving them back their card, checking baskets, etc.).

I can't remember if I mentioned this in another post or not but I signed up to do cross-training in the service deli. I was the only one so, by default, I get to do it! Maybe I don't know what I'm in for but it sounds like a dream job for me! Actually, a gal that I went through orientation with works back there and LOVES it! She started in maintenance and loved that, then they moved her to the food court and she hated that, now she's settled in the service deli. She was giving me pointers last night on what to wear - it's an enclosed room (glass so we can see out so it won't be claustrophobic or anything) that is maintained at 41 degrees. WHAT?! I get to make food (assuming), not have to deal with Johnny Q Public (much) and I won't sweat and stink? Sign me up! Oh, guess I'm already signed up:) Anyway, I'm told that I'll probably start back there the week of the 17th. I'm supposed to be back there through New Years but one of the managers told me that it may turn into a permanent move if I want it to! Until then, I guess I'll get some more cashier training (it's SO much easier on my body - and I don't sweat so much since I'm not running around the warehouse) and doing what I've been doing.

Maybe now I won't dread going to work! It's not so bad once I get there and get going but I just hate it while I'm getting ready to go. I look forward to the time when I don't feel the dread!

Just a few things involving work...

I swear I saw a moose on my way to work on Sunday! I've seen it before but it was dark that time so I didn't get a good look at it other than it was HUGE and couldn't have been a deer. This time it was mid-morning and for reasons I still can't figure out, I only saw the rear of it and not it's head! It was walking across the street so I got a full on side view. I'm sure glad I wasn't any closer since that would mean it would've been in my windshield! I'm sure I was daydreaming because once I figured out what it was that I was seeing (I was focused on the legs for some reason - hee hee, I must be a leg girl. That was terrible!) I started fumbling in my purse for my camera. Only to remember that, like the car seats, the camera stays with the kids. So then I was trying to grab my cell phone. The picture quality would have sucked but at least I would have had a picture! Right about then the Lock Ness Moose started trotting off into the woods. I started to speed up to try to catch it but then the thought ran through my head that maybe he/she had a friend/calf(?) not far behind. So I took it slow while I called K.C. to report my sighting. I figured I fumbled around for my phone enough so I may as well use it for something!

Wednesday I go in for cashier training! I'm looking forward to it...hoping it won't be as physical a job as the cashier assistant. It kind of sucks though because I go in at 8 a.m. and training will last around two hours but then I have to go back and work a shift that night at 5! Waste of gas - but I'm not hanging out in Issaquah all day with two toddlers either!

My friend Jody that I do Stroller Strides with works in the office (payroll) and helped me get the job - or at least helped my application get through to the interview process. Anyway, she was pulling into the parking lot for ss today and got hit by a truck (while in her vehicle that is)! Her and Claire were okay but it spun her car 1/4 of a turn. I was getting Sydney in the stroller at the time and wasn't too far away so the adrenaline got to pumping in me like I had been in the accident. I think she ended up getting the ticket because she was making a left and the truck had the right away - no matter how fast he was going! Scary stuff!

Let's see....what else was I going to tell you about.....Oh, we were almost going to make a trip to Colorado in two weeks! K.C. has to go for work so planted the idea in my head that maybe the girls and I could come along and we'd make a long weekend out of it. I got all excited and immediately requested the time off. He had second thoughts after looking up airline prices (not bad but not really what we should be spending money on right now) so I was still holding out hope that we could make it work. We can't so the girls and I will stay here and hold down the fort for a night. I guess the good thing about it is that I'll get one extra night off - maybe more! I told them I could work the weekend now so we'll see if I make it on the schedule or not. I'm sure I will!

Tonight was slow so I actually got to go home about 45 minutes early! And what did I do with my extra time? I laid on the couch and got caught up on my shows (LOVE our dvr!). Oh my, now it's almost 1 a.m. so I'd better head to bed - those girls will have me up for all day in a few short hours!

Buffalo Wing Sauce Cheese, Panettone Milanese & Tikka Masala

These are my new food finds. I scored BIG this time:) At least by my standards! I found all of these at Costco:


First up is the Buffalo Wing Sauce Cheddar Cheese. Yummy! This stuff has habanero peppers, jalapeno peppers, cayenne peppers and I don't know what else in it. Very good and yes, it does kind of taste like the buffalo wing sauce. It is spicy but Quinn gobbled it up like a pro! Sydney was sleeping so didn't try any. We just sampled it on Ritz crackers but I'm going to try shredding it and putting it over chips for nachos and then will try melting it and eating it as a dip. That is if K.C. and Quinn don't finish it off before I can get to all of that!

Next up is the Panettone Milanese that I talked about in another post. The packaging is what really peaked my interest in this. It's an Italian Christmas tradition, the box says.

So basically, this is a sort of bread as I suspected. It's made with eggs, butter and flour (among other things) and has three days of leavening and eight hours of slow-paced cooling. It reminds me of french bread but kind of sweet. And it has candied citron peels and raisins baked in it. I really like it - K.C. and Quinn, not so much. Again, Sydney was in bed when I got home so hasn't tasted it yet. Here's a picture after I cut into it:

I hope Sydney likes it, otherwise I have A LOT of it to eat! But that's a challenge I'm willing to take on!

And lastly, I was so happy to find the Tikka Masala sauce too! The deli at work has some chicken Tikka Masala but this is the first time I've seen just the sauce. It's an Indian curry that is so yummy. I simmered some chicken in some of the sauce for K.C. and the girls and I steamed some veggies and simmered those in the sauce for me! I ate it over rice and even had some Naan in the freezer (from Trader Joe's) that I heated up and ate with it! What a great lunch!

My next finds are from Trader Joe's. An enchilada sauce and a Thai Red Curry sauce. Are you getting hungry yet?!

Halloween Flashback!

Ready to go Trick-Or-Treating!

2007: Two witches and a Bronco's Cheerleader!


2008: Super Girls

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone! It's finally here! Not that I've been anxiously awaiting it or anything. It's more like I thought I may have missed it since the Christmas stuff is already out and I didn't get around to putting up Halloween decorations this year so I'm a little holiday confused right now.

I am hoping to get the song that has been stuck in my head all week out for good after today. It's not even a real song or anything. Moose A. Moose on Noggin sings a little diddy about candy corn. "I don't like candy corn, no I don't like candy corn" and that's all I can remember but it plays over and over and over again in my head. I have even found myself humming it - at work, at home, grocery shopping, at Little Gym. Sad. But it does make me think of my Mom since she LOVES candy corn! So that part is not so bad. But I'm over the song already.

Anyway, moving on...

We woke up to a gray, rainy Halloween morning. Actually, I woke up to Quinn standing beside my bed telling me that it was a rainy morning and that I should get up. Why - I wondered to myself. Then I remembered the Halloween bags of goodies I set out for the girls the night before to find when we went down for breakfast. That made me smile and so I got up and started the day.

The girls enjoyed finding their bag of goodies: a book, a little plush thing that I stuffed full of candy and a flashlight - cat for Quinn, pumpkin for Sydney. They mostly enjoyed the fact that they got to eat one of the treats before breakfast! I enjoyed that part too - even though I've been doing it all week!

We got dressed in our costumes and headed to the park for 'Trunk-Or-Treat'. It was fun to see the kids dressed up - even if it was raining! They didn't seem to mind a bit when they found out there were treats involved! One of the trunks had one of those bowls with the hand sticking up and when you grab the candy, the hand 'grabs' you. Quinn got to experience that and it didn't seem to really faze her at the time. But for the entire ride home and pretty much the rest of the day, all she could talk about was that stupid hand! "That hand didn't want me to take a treat", "That hand said NO Quinn, you can't have my treat", "That hand just wanted to keep the treats", "That hand was in the bowl with the treats", "That hand was green", "What color is your hand?", "What color is my hand", "Can my hand stay in the bowl with the treats?", "I just wanted to take a treat but that hand didn't want me to", "That hand........" I finally quit listening after awhile as she started to repeat herself. Stupid hand! Hmmmmmm, I wonder where she gets her obsessiveness from? (playing in background: I don't like candy corn, no I don't like candy corn.....)

My Super Girls were super hard to get out of their costumes so we could eat lunch -"NNNNOOOOOOOOOOO! I'm Super Girl! I need to wear my costume! I can't be Super Girl without my costume!" is what I got from Quinn. From Sydney I got "NNNNOOOOOOOO! NO NO NO NO! NNNNOOOOOOOOO! soupaoeiurlsejroiufoaieuroioiuouoieurwoeirlakjfosguaosjrawo!" which I loosely translated to mean "No, I would rather not remove my costume at this time Mother but thank you so much for asking!" - or something like that.

Our costumes this year were inspired by Quinn. She has a 'Super Girl' shirt (just a red shirt with the 'S' emblem in blue on it) that she got over a year ago. The thing doesn't fit her but she insists on wearing it all the time! In fact she goes back and forth between Super Girl shirt and Bronco shirt. But the Bronco shirt has to be her orange Bronco shirt (again, she got it over a year ago) because her nice new Bronco shirt/jersey that actually fits her is pink. And, according to her, Bronco shirts are NOT pink (yes, her Daddy is SO proud)! So, if anyone is wondering what gift she will get the most use out of this year, think Bronco shirt (5T) that is orange and/or blue and preferably one with the logo on it! Okay, back to our costumes. So the shirt coupled with the fact that I came home from work one night to find K.C., Quinn and Sydney with blankets around them like capes, running through the house yelling "We are Superheros! We're here to save the day! We are SU-PER HEROOOOOOOS!" and I don't know what all! So in my quest for costumes I happened upon an adult size Super Girl costume. I thought Quinn would be SO proud to have her Mommy be Super Girl so I HAD to get it! And then I found toddler size Super Girl outfits. That was a no brainer! We would be the Valentine Super Girls! So the next trick was finding a Super Hero costume for K.C. At first the only thing I could find with a cape was Super Beer Man costume. Not really appropriate for handing out candy but if we were going to an adult party, perfect. Then I found it. It was like a light was shining on it, pointing the way for me. It was Batman! Well, killjoy, I mean K.C., was less than impressed with it. He thought the costume was cool and all but there was no way in heck he was wearing it. I tried to convince him. Told him to imagine how cool it would be for kids to come trick-or-treat at our house and find Batman there, passing out candy. He agreed, it would be cool. I thought I had persuaded him to wear it. Turns out he was just agreeing that it would be cool - but there was still no way in heck he was wearing the costume. So, I took it back:( And now, to quote Quinn, "Daddy is just going to be Daddy for Halloween." Party pooper!

The rain cleared up in the afternoon so we had a nice evening for trick-or-treating. I got all made up (yes my friends, I'm wearing blue and gold eyeshadow and have my hair teased up as high as I could get it:) Rock on brothers and sisters, rock on!) and was getting the girls made up when we started getting trick-or-treaters. First it was Jack & Cindy as we missed them at the trunk-or-treat at the park. Next was some neighbors so we had them come in so we could all check out each others costumes. Then we headed out to do some trick-or-treating of our own. Quinn seemed to remember what to do from last year. She was really into it and not afraid at all. Sydney followed along and sometimes seemed confused that we weren't going in the houses. She wasn't shy at some places as she grabbed a handful of candy instead of just one. We only saw one other Super Girl out and about so I think we got some unique costumes this time - at least for our neighborhood! After we got home there was a Super Man that was probably a little older than Sydney that came to the door. It was too darn cute and I curse myself for not thinking about grabbing the camera! The boy was so amazed that there were two little Super Girls and one big one - like he found where the super heros lived or something! Quinn lost interest after she put the candy in his bag. He and Sydney just stood there staring at each other for the longest time. It was so funny.

After we got home and K.C. and I picked out what we wanted, er, uh, I mean after we sorted through it and pulled all of the 'suspicious' looking candy, we let the girls pick one treat to eat before getting ready for bed. Quinn picked fruit leather (kind of like a fruit roll but it's all natural) - probably because it was the biggest thing in the basket:) and Sydney picked a sucker - always goes for the suckers - probably because they last longer. I tell you what, I'm raising some smart sweet-tooths around here!

All in all we had a great Halloween this year. Quinn is already talking about dressing up and going trick-or-treating next year. Silly kid! Hope you all had a good Halloween and got lots of sweet treats - even if you had to go buy them for yourself!

Here's a smilebox with lots of pictures and video from the day and evening. Enjoy!:

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Spook ya next year!