Black Friday Soured My Husband

This year I thought I would be going out at the ass-crack of dawn to do some black Friday shopping. I was so far behind just 2-3 weeks before that. I started making up lists and staring at the leaked ads weeks in advance.

But then Target had some super awesome deals and so did ToysRUs. My mom and my in laws gave out some pretty easy Christmas wish lists and my sister and I decided not to exchange this year. It is hard to buy for each other and she is having some money issues so why buy each other new sweaters that we could just buy ourselves right?

So there were only 2 things that I was interested in on Black Friday. A Blu-Ray player for $70 and a Sony e-Reader for $99, both at WalMart. So I'm getting ready to go and my darling husband says,"Babe, you are too nice. You'll never be able to get those things. People are mean. I'll go." And who am I to stop him? So he went out in the cold to get himself some stuff that he wanted, plus my stuff. He was very excited by his rug cleaner purchase and the new impact drill from Kohl's and Sears respectively. But then he had to head into WalMart. WalMart shattered his Christmas spirit a little bit. He followed the rules. Waited in line and when they took the cover off the e-Readers at 5am, madness happened. People stormed the area, pushing, shoving, complete chaos.

He was 5th in line before the shoving. Of the 25 readers there, he got the last one. He grabbed onto it at the same time another woman did. A woman with 2 in her hands already and was not in line prior to that. So with both of their hands on it, Mark calmly asked if he could have it and she gave it to him. Then another woman tries to grab it out of his hands but he fought back hard and got it. He was so disappointed in how WalMart handled everything and how people behaved. He still shakes his head mournfully when he sees my reader.

These are the reasons I don't shop on Black Friday. It ruins my Christmas mood and I LOVE Christmas. We cheered him up with an early dinner at Chester's, a local Cajun restaurant that is so awesome, and then went to see Disney's new movie Tangled. The day ended with everyone being happy but I've decided that I will have no more of the craziness. The money I save isn't worth it. So I thank my loving husband for fighting the crowds for me but next year I'd rather us stay warm in the bed together at 3am.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come and gone. I didn't do a "thankful" post. I think it's very obvious what I'm thankful for, my husband, my daughter, our immediate and extended families and my friends. There is no big secret thing and writing about all of that obvious stuff would probably end up being boring to read.

So instead I'm posting some pictures from our Thanksgiving day festivities. There was too much food, as usual. We had fun watching the kids beat up on the newest family members with pillows. There was lots of attack Papa time with the kids after dinner. We scoured the Black Friday ads and finished off sitting around the TV watching football and eating pie. All in all, it was perfect:)

I'm Alive! I Swear!

• The last week and a half has been busy to say the least. After dealing with a sick kid, my husband got sick and he's even worse than the 4 year old. Plus I had girls night and I'm trying to scrub the house so that it will be ready for Christmas decorations this weekend.
• I joined a gym and hired a personal trainer! I'm soooo excited. Except that I've been a member for a week and a half now and I haven't been able to get there(see bullet point #1). Next week I will jump back on the horse.
• I've been going to Physical Therapy for my back for the past 3 weeks and I'm feeling much better. The only issue is that I am the youngest person that must go there for therapy. When i picked this place it was because it took our obscure insurance and it was close by. Then I realized it's located at an all-inclusive senior residence. Everyone else there are healing from broken hips and strokes. I stick out like a sore thumb and they all want to talk to me and watch me do my back exercises. They are encouraging me the whole time but it's seriously uncomfortable having them watch me doing the clam and planks.
• It seems my major back issue is my core strength and not flexibility so between the PT and the gym, hopefully I'll be better soon.
• Last night Mark and I were on the couch watching a movie when he says that he misses all the little things that we used to do before we had Annabelle. Of course before he gets a chance to tell me what those little things are, Annabelle starts crying upstairs to go to the bathroom. When I got back the moment was over and now who knows when he'll feel like telling me these things!
• We are going for our annual Christmas photos after Annabelle gets out of school today. The last session wasn't great. I was making the weirdest faces.
• Thanksgiving in two more days and then I'll be surrounded by family and it will be great. Except that by the end of the day I'll probably have a headache from all the noise. But as my dad says- If they are loud, it means their happy. If they are quiet, look out!
• Anyone going Black Friday shopping? I might, but it's supposed to be only 35 degrees with a LES warning. Maybe that deal on the new DVD player for my parents won't be good enough for me to get up at 2am. We'll see, there's always Cyber Monday:)
• I'll get back on track with this whole blogging thing next week. I have posts floating around in my head.
• Everyone have a happy, fun and laughter filled Thanksgiving!

Can Today Just Start Over?

It has not been a good day. Annabelle has had a cough for about 3 weeks. We got back from Florida and all of the hot, cold, warm, cold, warm, cold weather fluctuations was just wreaking havoc on her allergies. Her nose has been running constantly and because she has decided that blowing your nose is the devil himself, it all starting going into her lungs. She now has a hacking, smokers-like cough. It comes and goes one day it's bad then the next 3 would be so-so.

But last night she couldn't catch her breath. We let her sleep on the couch. It's cooler downstairs and she always feel better knowing that someone is just an arm's reach away from her. She started breathing better but got up a few times for a drink and one potty break. Seven thirty came waaaaayy to early for me this morning and the first words that she utters are, "Mommy my ear hurts." Crap! She's squealing with pain until I got her a warm washcloth to put on her ear. Thirty minutes on hold with the pediatrician, I get an appointment and we have to rush to get ready, no shower for me but at least I brushed our teeth.

The doctor looks in the ears, throat, nose, you know the routine and decides it's an ear infection with an underlying sinus infection. Because we've had three weeks of coughing and snuffling and wiping, it all backed up and caused infections! He calls in the amoxicillan to the pharmacy and we head out on our way to Wegmans.

Then as we're pulling into Wegmans parking lot, a mere 10 minutes from getting the script and heading home, Annabelle throws up. Everywhere. It's on Pooh Bear, on her jacket, inside her jacket and on her shirt and pants, in the booster seat and on the car seat. She literally exploded Fruity Cheerios and snot all over herself and the car. I had to strip her down naked and head back home. Let me tell you, the smell of puke and Fruity Cheerios is not a pleasant smell. Especially when cooped up inside a car for 15 minutes. But now things are better. All puke has been cleaned, clothes have been washed, medicine picked up and taken (by force) and she's sleeping soundly in her bed.

Dinner is cooking in the crock pot and I have dance class tonight. Hopefully she'll feel better tomorrow so that she can go to school and I can get to the gym. Now I think I'll go take a nap though. Vacuuming can wait.

Indian Summer!

So my cold never really materialized (thank goodness). The leaves on our trees in the backyard have finally fallen, though the one tree still has about 1/3 of the leaves hangin' on and their still green yet too. So Annabelle headed on outside to do some raking and playing. By the time we were done the leaves were not in the leaf bags but I swear to Almighty God that they were handfuls down my pants, my shirt, in my bra and underwear! Talk about uncomfortable! But a grabbed the camera and snapped some fun pics of Annabelle and thought I'd share my cute girl with you! I don't know why this is all underlined like it's soooo important but I can't get it to stop, sorry!

Sick

I think I may be getting sick and that is bad. I have things to do! I woke up this morning with that tell-tale tickle in my throat. The one turns into a throat infection that makes eating, drinking, breathing, pretty much impossible.

It is supposed to be in the 60's for the next 4 days. That is like heaven over here! I have plans to go to the Zoo tomorrow with my mom, sister, niece, nephew and Annabelle to see the baby gorilla. A freakin' baby gorilla people! How cute will that be! Plus I want to hang the Christmas light and get all the outside decoration stuff out. I will not plug them in and use them until the day after Thanksgiving, but I can hang them outside while it's relatively warm out instead of in a snow storm. I'm going to do it. The garage needs to be cleaned out so that we can both park in there and the leaves have FINALLY fallen off of the trees in the back yard so we'll be doing some serious raking and pile jumping.

But I can't do these things if I'm sick and in pain and weak from hunger (maybe I'll lose those 2 pounds that I have gained last week). Plus I'm getting my period on top of all this. Basically if I really do end up sick, I'll feel like hell (and probably look that way too). So just ug.

It's Cold Outside

So I'm making chili, a big double batch. The house smells so good and yummy and I can't wait for dinner. I'm ready for Christmas now. The big toy books have started arriving; Target, Toys R Us, WalMart. I'm ready for Santa and decorations and people being nice to each other and laying underneath the Christmas tree in the dark with the lights sparkling on the tree and smelling that pine-y scent. I'm ready for it all.

Except I had a fight with a friend that may or may not be better and those dark thoughts are crowding my brain. The ones where I die, the one where no one misses me, the one where I make it look like an accident. I know I won't do it, even though there are days when the thoughts are strong. But I know I can't leave my little girl without a mother. Even if that mother is just me.

So I will push those feelings aside again like I always do and I'll go Christmas shopping. I'll bake cookies and sing carols and put a smile on my face and think happy thoughts until they are really there. Not just my facade.

Just Some Fluff

Here are a few of the 999 pictures we took on our recent trip to see the mouse. We had a great time!

Thinking...

I have been thinking about something lately that is buzzing around my brain a bit. It's not a great subject matter. It's pretty dark, especially compared to what I usually write about. Secrets that even Mark doesn't know all about. Do I really want to put that kind of stuff out there in the universe? I'm not completely sure yet.

So instead of writing about my pain, I'm eating Tootsie rolls and putting away the Halloween decorations. Hiding all of my scars and insecurities with sugary chocolate. Maybe tomorrow I'll be ready to rip off my scabs. Maybe.

I'm From Buffalo

I know I have mentioned before briefly, that I live in suburb of Buffalo, NY. It is a fantastic place to live but it is always the butt of people's jokes. When you live in Buffalo and travel to other cities, you learn pretty quickly to develop a thicker skin. You automatically know that when you tell people where you live, that they will say a nasty remark about the city. A city that they more than likely have never visited. There are 3 major things that people are confused about.

Number 1:
Yes we get snow. In the winter. Not year round. There is no snow in July. As a matter of fact, July temps are normally in the 80's but people know that we have gotten a blizzard or two and had a big ice storm a few years ago, so it must mean it's crappy weather all of the time. Right? We get less snow that both Rochester and Syracuse. We only get snow for about 2 months out of the year (Mid-November to Mid-January) and then the lake freezes. After that pretty much no more snow.

Number 2:
Buffalo wings. We just call them chicken wings here. They are not breaded like I've seen them in some places. And yes, most people love them but we also have other great food. Super good pizza and fish fries and beef on weck. Let's please expand our horizons people! Now I'm hungry.

Number 3:
Our crappy sports teams. Buffalo has a love/hate relationship with our teams. Every year you get the people that claim we're going to go all the way this year, they can just feel it in their bones. We had 4, count them 4, awesome years with the Bills, heading to the Super Bowl. I remember the electric feeling the air, especially before the first one. Then "wide Right' happened. Poor Scott Norwood, I wouldn't want to be him. Now it's been 10 straight years without even a whiff of the playoffs, but the fans still show up, dream. As for the Sabres, we've had a bumpy ride. We've had "No Goal" and a myriad of other bad calls that have destroyed our dreams for that big, shiny cup. This year has been awful so far (lucky for me, MSG and Dish Network are fighting so I haven't seen any games). But I love them anyways.

OK so there was the bad. But the good... is great. There was recently an article, maybe on CNN but I can't remember, about the best places to relocate to. #2 was good old Buffalo, NY. We have great restaurants, both big chains, high end places and superb individually owned eateries that cater to one specific cuisine. Mexican, Italian, Indian, American, Latin, we have it all. There is a lot of night life. There are about 20-25 different Theatres in and around the city, the biggest and most popular is Shea's. They show the big Broadway stage shows- Lion King, Mary Poppins, Rent, Phantom etc. Then there's Chippewa and Pearl area. That's where the clubs, lounges and bars are. You can have a nice relaxing glass of wine or dance until 4 am. There is a great art scene here. There are 2 modern art museums, historical and science museums. There is even a Carousel Museum, a Bike Museum and a Kazoo Factory/Museum. So that just means there is so much to do, that you shouldn't ever talk about being bored. There is so much history pouring out of the streets. It's amazing.

Lastly there's the people. We are known as the city of good neighbors for a reason. I remember being about 7 and there was a snow storm. People couldn't get to the grocery store for food because the streets weren't plowed. My dad hopped on his snowmobile and went door to door. Collecting people shopping lists and money, heading out to Wegmans. That is what Buffalo is to me and most other Buffalonians. It's not perfect, but that place doesn't exist. We take care of each other when we need to and we are proud to call this city home.

It always amazes me when I head to other towns. They all look like Buffalo to me. But shouldn't NYC feel like it's better than us? It looks just as raggedy as every other place once you're outside of Times Square or downtown. So just remember next time you want to pick on a city for their stereotypes, that real people live there that get fed up of the joke.

I Should Know Better...

but I did it anyway. Last night, Mark was watching some stupid show he had DVR'd, The Walking Dead. He claimed that he heard it was going to be good and that I'd like it. Except he seems to have forgotten that I'm a big baby when it comes to horror/scary movies/shows. I mean when Scream came out on tape (ha), I made him turn it off after the heavy breathing, Do you like to watch scary movies part because I was almost hyperventilating I was so scared. So this new show was about zombies taking over the world, not the most original premise.

I decide I'm not going to watch but read a book instead. But again I don't make the greatest choice in reading materials. I'm reading ghost stories. It's Halloween-y reading material that doesn't normally freak me out. I believe ghosts exist and as long as they are friendly, I have no problem with them. But the spooky reading and hearing the zombie moaning got me going. I was tired but there was NO WAY that I was going upstairs by myself! There could be zombies up there!

So the show ends, we take our vitamins and meds, turn on the dishwasher, turn off the lights and head up to the bedroom. And there is a zombie! Or at least it sounds like one. It was Annabelle moaning in that half sleep, half awake way that sounds really freaking scary when you've been watching zombie movies. She had to go to the bathroom but I wasn't going in there. You know just in case she IS a zombie. She certainly sounded like one and she has an annoying habit of pretending to eat me, always starting with my face. So it was possible she was a zombie, with all of her zombie-like habits that she's forming already.

But what I tell myself is that my back was really, really hurting and I couldn't lift her up to get her on the toilet. So Mark got to do that. I was so only joking bout her being a zombie, right?

This is the only zombie I'll go near. I saw the taping of Zombieland wth Woody Harrelson last year in LA.

Halloween!

This year, Halloween hadn't been a big draw for us. We had so much other stuff going on that it was just pushed off to the side. It didn't feel like all that big of a deal to us. But once the actual day came around, we ended up having a great time (even though my sister annoyed me, big time).

We carved our pumpkins on Thursday. Even though Annabelle wouldn't touch the pumpkin guts, she had a good time drawing her own face on the pumpkin for me to cut out. Mark made a scary-face pumpkin but I didn't take a picture of it, though it was good. So yesterday we went to my mom and dad's house.

When we were kids my mom would make a huge pot of chicken and rice soup, buy donuts and cider, and my grandma and Aunt Pattie would come over to see us in our costumes. Now that there are grandkids my mom has started up the tradition again:) We ate our fill, including 2 donuts for me- oink oink! Then we started getting ready to head out. Annabelle was Silvermist, one of Tinker Bell's fairy friends. We got her to wear the wig and everything, which I was very surprised she put it on and actually wore it. She looked like a stuffed sausage and we were making lots of jokes about Silvermist needing to lay off the candy. She was ready to explode!

Annabelle did a pretty good job. She was going up to houses all by herself and screaming trick or treat and remembering to say thank you most of the time. There were only a few houses that she wouldn't go up to on her own, the ones playing scary music.

Afterwards we stopped off at my in-laws so that they could give Annabelle her Halloween presents. After we got home, I tucked her into bed and told her how much fun I had trick-or-treating with her. I got a very sleepy, "Love you Momma. Next year will you wear a costume too?" I can' wait.