Thankful Season

No surprise that Thanksgiving is my fav, fav, fav holiday but man!  It goes by so fast!  T arrived very late Tuesday night as she drove from a meeting in Muscle Shoals.  I went into the office for a little bit Wednesday and am so glad my girls are old enough to want to take over the cooking responsibilities!  I received a huge bird from my hotel and our sweet realtor gave us an apple pie that was as big as a hubcap.  My friend LCM recently introduced T to splotchcocking and it cut cooking time in half.  T had also cooked a turkey using this method on Sunday for her B'ham Friendsgiving.  It's not a pretty presentation but it's delicious!

The girls did a fabulous job with their menu -- we had two different appetizers:  a prosciutto-wrapped asparagus and a baked brie with blackberry jam.  Besides the turkey and apple pie, they made green beans, stuffing from scratch, crock pot mashed potatoes, a mixed greens salad with feta, walnuts, cranberries and an apple cider vinegrette.  I really don't mind doing all the dishes if someone else cooks!

The previous weekend was spent w/ the Martins in Oxford.  As always, a super great time!  LCM hooked us up with the most perfect hotel rooms, Z, AG & KJ took care of the tent Friday night and now that KJ and Z are both 18, T and Pony Boy let them tag-along in Oxford.  Coach and Dean-o tormented our server at Old Venice and we did a little bar-hopping and ended up at the Round Table and spent some time at the fire pit at the hotel.  LCM is very creative and made an awesome banner for the tent and her table décor was perfect!  Of course we love walking around the Grove to sneak a peek at what everyone else is doing, too.  Game day started of kind of iffy weather-wise.  The rain didn't hit until 2 or 3 hours before kick-off and we hunkered down in the Grove.  And the rain brought much, much cooler temps and we were all kind of wet and cold and miserable because of the score.  LCM and the girls and I headed back to the hotel while the guys stuck it out at the game.  We had so much fun sitting in the hotel late night, BS-ing, laughing and finishing off our adult beverages and snacks. 

I've only gone Black Friday shopping once and I swore I'd never do it again.  I have been doing a lot of my Christmas shopping on-line and now those Amazon packages are piling up on the front porch.  KJ is at a weird place this year -- she had a bunch of dorm things on her Christmas list.  T and Pony Boy are going to Dublin for New Year's (yes, she has ants in her pants and gypsy in her blood) so her list consists of travel items and clothes.  And Coach continues to be an enigma.  He is the hardest person to buy for.  I mean, seriously.  What do you buy the man who has everything???? 

Sweet Sweet Summa Time

Everyone measures time differently . . . some measure by the seasons, some measure by school years, some people have great memories and can remember exact dates.  I am none of these people.  I can barely remember what I had for breakfast.  My memories are usually based on a couple of things -- where I was living at the time and who else was with me.

For example, the girls tease me all the time because I have an incredible memory for some things, others, not so much.  I can remember what little outfit the girls were wearing but can't remember exactly what grade they were in or exactly what year.  But I can remember if one of them was "in the stroller."

So here we are . . . our 2nd summer in Texas and KJ is about to start her JUNIOR year of high school.  How in the hell did that happen?  I mean seriously.  How in the hell did that happen?  She finally got her driver's license in June (after her cast came off) and her daddy took care of her and bought her a cute bright red convertible.  She's been baby sitting and house sitting a lot this summer and had fun volunteering at the Aquarium each week.  I think this is her "summer to remember."  That golden summer measured by days at the lake, driving around with the top down and hanging with friends at Six Flags.  Such a different place from where we were at this time last year.

We had just moved here, I was up to my eyeballs in boxes and we didn't know a soul.  She had just finished freshman year in Maryland, we road-tripped from Maryland to Dallas with the dog in tow, closed on the house, buzzed to the pageant, she went out west with my folks, came home for 1 night and went to volleyball camp, came home for 1 day and then had high school volleyball try-outs.  This summer we had T's graduation, moved her into her new apartment, had some family visit this summer and had some new friends to celebrate the 4th of July with!   We had summer lax 3 nights a week (when I say "we" I mean Coach and KJ), we did a couple of day trips and have enjoyed working on our tans and lazy days by the pool.

And now our baby is about to start her JUNIOR year of high school.  How in the hell did that happen??

Happies & Crappies

Don't forget to link-up with http://www.thevintagemodernwife.com/
and http://www.thevintagemodernwife.com/ each week!
 

It's been a quick week in the Cos household!  Can't believe it's Friday already!  Whoop!  Whoop!  No major plans for the weekend but KJ has a b-day party on Saturday and I think on Sunday we might go see "The Book Thief."  Cosmo has also talked about going to the Caps game Sunday night so who knows!

 

Happies

• KJ had half-days on Monday and Tuesday which was nice.  Monday I picked her up in the carpool line and got her some Starbucks as a treat.  I don't drink coffee so I ran thru the Dunkin' Donuts line and got a Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate.  Oh.  My.  God.  Heaven in my mouth.  I got a small but will be getting larges or extra-larges in the future.  Wow. 
• KJ made the travel volleyball team!  Whoop!  Whoop!  Let the Spring insanity begin!
• Just a couple more days until I fly to MS to see T!  Whoop!  Whoop!
• KJ brought home an incredible report card.  Best report card she's ever had!  Very, very proud of her!  I've said it before but I'll say it again . . . She LOVES her new school and is just flourishing!
• I got a haircut yesterday.  Kind of scary going to someone new after going to Jeffrey for almost 15 but I liked the new salon. 
• I'm making a dent in my Christmas shopping!  Thank you Etsy!  Whoop!  Whoop!

 

Crappies

• The weather has been so weird.  Tuesday and Wednesday were very cold, Thursday was gorgeous and I had my sun roof open while running my errands.
• I don't like when people start decorating for Christmas in mid-November and totally by-pass Thanksgiving (I know a couple people who had their houses completely decked out for Christmas by November 10).  And I don't like that stores are opening earlier and earlier to capitalize on Black Friday sales.  Black Friday is bad enough, then stores started opening at mid-night and now some stores are opening on Thanksgiving night.  We need to just slow down.   I like my house decorated as much as the next person.  I love the holidays and don't mean to come across as a Scrooge but we put too much pressure on ourselves to live a perfect, Instagrammed, Pinterest-worthy life.  Let it go.  You're not Martha Stewart who has dozens of minions doing her bidding.  Focus on your family and friends and the rest will fall into place.  Thank you.  I'll get off my soap-box now. 

 





 

 

 

 

#HappiesAndCrappies

So excited to be doing #HappiesAndCrappies! I was looking through some old blog posts and re-read a couple of #ItsOKThursday posts and wondered if Amber over at www.brunchwithamber.com had any new link-ups. She's got such a great blog and I was so happy to see #HappiesAndCrappies!  I can totally do this and I love linking-up with other bloggers! So here goes . . .
   Happies   - So excited to see some family this weekend!  I'm driving up to my brother's for the weekend and my niece and I are attending my cousin's bridal shower.  KJ has vball try-outs this weekend so she can't make the trip and my sister-in-law is in charge of an event at her church so it's just gonna be me and Little Miss C.  And we're gonna dance in the car.  She likes to sing along to KC + the Sunshine Gang.  She walks around the house singing this little ditty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyUk5RrKfUs     - We booked T's flight home for Christmas!!!  Happy Happy Happy!!!   - Sophia Grace and Rosie were on #Ellen this week!    - I've started my Christmas shopping.        Crappies   - I don't know if I've got eczema or just extremely dry skin but holy cow!  My legs and back are horribly itchy and no amount of lotion is helping.  I can't even wear socks I'm so uncomfortable/miserable.    - I ran out of ginger ales this afternoon. 

Busier than a . . .

take your pick:

1.a one-armed paperhanger with a case of the hives.
2.a one-eyed cat watching nine rat holes.
3.a one-legged man in a butt kickin’ contest.
4.a one-toothed man in a corn-on-the-cob eating contest.
5.a mosquito at a nudist colony.
6.a one-armed paper hanger.
7.a cross-eyed air traffic controller.
8.a set of jumper cables at a country funeral.
9.a cat with puppies.
10.a weatherman in a tornado (made me think of James Spann!!)
11.a desert cobra at a mongoose convention.
12.a termite in a saw mill.
13.a dog scratching fleas.
14.a one-armed-pimp in a bitch-slapping contest
15.a one-armed trombone player.
16.a rooster in a henhouse.

Some of these are pretty funny.  My dad always said he was "busier than a one-armed paperhanger."  I've never heard the "with a case of hives" part before. 

Got a lot going on . . .
-- really like my new job so far.  It's keeping me busy. 
-- trying to get KJ packed and ready for DC. 
-- she's had a lot of vball; weekly practices / weekend tournaments.  I feel like all I do is wash uniforms and vball socks. 
-- we've had a lot of lax (Ole Miss and Hoover) and the Hoover season doesn't officially start until Saturday; got our annual auction this weekend which is always fun!  Made up a tailgate basket (it's actually a cooler, not a basket but I guess it could also be used for a picnic) to auction off (a variety of gourmet beers, fun bottle-opener, blue corn chips, mango salsa, some kind of beer potato chips, crackers, sausage, cheeses, etc.).
-- getting ready for the Ole Miss to stay with us when they play Bama.  Not sure yet if the ENTIRE team (approx. 30 girls) or HALF the team (approx. 15 girls) are staying with us but that weekend couldn't be any crazier . . . they'll play 2 games on Saturday and 1 on Sunday so that means they'll be with us 2 nights (which means the woman who HATES to cook will be cooking for a small army).  Cosmo has Hoover lax games that weekend and KJ is supposed to be in Nashville for a vball tournament.
-- then we head into Spring Break.  T and the girls will be stopping here on their way to SB'13 to pick-up a friend from Auburn who will be joining them.  Not sure of the number but it could be anywhere from 5 to 10 girls.  I volunteered to make a lasagna and salad for them for that first night in the condo so they don't have to cook.  Who am I kidding?  I'll get Cosmo to make the lasagna.  KJ has SB'13 the week after T and was invited to the beach with friends.  I will probably end up cancelling the condo I had for the week and Cosmo and I are thinking of taking a quick, romantic, child-less trip for a couple of days.  I don't care where we go.  I just want to sit at a pool and/or get lots of spa treatments. 

KJ Update

Sometimes daughter #2 comes out with some great one-liners.  Some real zingers.  Last night I was on the phone w/ T before she was meeting a friend at the Library to study for their French exam.  KJ overheard me saying "Be careful walking home in the dark."  She yelled loud enough for T to hear:  "Don't forget your rape whistle!" 

Disclaimer:  I am not making light of rape by any means and we truly feel that T is safe on the campus of Ole Miss. 

KJ is heading to Washington DC this weekend with her class.  She's super-duper excited and really needs to start packing.  It's supposed to be very cold (mid to high 30's) and there is a possibility of snow.  Which is fun for the kids but makes packing more difficult.  

DC is one of our favorite cities and, like New York City, it's totally magical covered in snow.  The buildings take on a softer, blanketed look.  DC is a beautifully green city and I love to see the trees covered in a heavy snow. 

The Korean War Memorial is so incredibly realistic in any weather, in the snow the statues comes to life. 

Chick-a-dees

So happy to have all my chick-a-dees in the nest! T got in yesterday afternoon with plenty of time to help KJ get ready for the 7th grade dance.  She did KJ's make-up while I curled her hair.  Good God that kid has a ton of hair!  The dance was a hoe-down and KJ looked super cute in her new cowboy boots!

Really looking forward to a relaxing week.  T's got some stuff on her to-do list for the week and has plans w/ friends almost every night.  Not sure how much we're going to actually "see" her during break but we had a nice day catching up.  In addition to her laundry, she came bearing gifts.  She had an AOPi long-sleeve shirt for KJ and she brought me an Ole Miss sweatshirt and hat to wear to the Egg Bowl in case it's chilly.  I made her favorite chili cheese dip to eat while we watched the Ole Miss vs. LSU game.  What a heartbreaker.  Coach Freeze is taking the team in the right direction, they just can't seem to close the deal.