Happy Thanksgiving, Ya’ll!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is this week! It is crazy how fast this month has flown by. I wrapped most of the Christmas presents last night since Marin is staying at her NeNe and Papa's house this week. I am glad to get that over with and be able to focus on the tree and other decorations this weekend. I asked Eric to put outside lights on the house this year but he is in lazy mode lately and doesn't want the hassle. I am still trying to persuade him but I don't know if he is going to give in...we'll see.

Not much going on in our world lately. Eric still hasn't been assigned a project. If they could just get him assigned somewhere within driving distance we'll be ok. He was recently offered an assignment in New Jersey. Can't really swing a $1200/mo apartment rental plus our mortgage...and I am not moving to New Jersey! There are a lot of places I would consider moving to and New Jersey will NEVER make that list!!

Marin's teacher at preschool said Marin is great at following directions with her coloring and she knows her ABC's better than most of the three year olds. Alert the media! We've bred a genius!! It's hard for me to comprehend the significance of her learning to color and say the alphabet but I guess when you are that age it is impressive to the teachers. So I gave her extra M&M's to reward her. You don't have to tell me...I already know I am horrible!

Thanksgiving...What am I thankful for this year? I am thankful that Eric and I are both employed. We have been through rough patches in the past few months but have managed to make it through with only minor "scratches". I'm lucky to have people I can turn to if need be but I hate to show weakness so I refrain from ever asking of  help and did whatever possible to make it on our own. So thanks to those who graceously wanted to help us...we love you all. But we preferred to buckle down and make it work. Some people might say I'm too proud but I prefer to think of myself of just being strong-willed.

Christmas Shopping is Done!

If you know me well then you know I HATE Christmas shopping during December. Stores are crowded, people get crazy and rude...and I don't want any part of it. So not only do I shop early, I also do the majority of my shopping online.  I can now sit back, wait for my packages to arrive and enjoy the holidays without the fuss. Amazon is truly still one of my favorite sites but I have been a big Ebay shopper lately as well. Eric made a wishlist site last year for our family. I don't think its going to get much use this year. I think the adults in my family are doing a Chinese (White Elephant?) gift exchange instead of drawing names. But I did put Marin's list up there for anyone wondering what she wants. There is a feature where you can click sold (shopping cart icon) so the next person to look at the list will see what she's already got. I am not trying to ask people to buy her presents . I just know people will ask what she needs or wants so instead of thinking about it on the spot or having to verbally go over a list I have it all organized in one place. (Just found out from Eric that it requires a log in to see it but he will get that fixed shortly where you don't need it.) UPDATE: If asked for a username/password, leave them both blank and click 'Login'.

This year Eric and I have to fill each others stocking with goodies since Marin can't wake up Christmas morning to see Santa only filled her stocking. I think she would get suspicious if ours are empty. Yes, we have decided to spend Christmas at home this year. Usually we go to East Texas but now that Marin is old enough to know who Santa is we thought it better that he deliver her gifts to our house and not try to make up some crazy stories about how he tracked her down at someone else's house. But I am planning to spend the week after Christmas in East Texas to make up for it. New Years is always more fun with fireworks and we have to go to the country for that.

My friend Christy is expecting her first baby! I know she is nervous about it so I just pray it is healthy. She is due in June so I have to plan a trip to Arizona this summer. Boy, is it going to be HOT!  The last time I went to Arizona it was in March a few years ago and the weather was perfect. But the summers are killer. It is a dessert after all!

Marin got sick on Halloween so she didn't get to really enjoy the holiday. We took her to a community trick or treat thing at the civic center in Diboll but she felt pretty bad and I am pretty sure she has fever. But she still wanted to do it and then when I got her back to the house that night I gave her Children's Mortin and she started to feel better. She did get to ride the "tractor" (what she calls my dad's 4 wheeler) and she took a couple of swings at the Halloween pinata at my parents party. I only got one picture of her the entire night which was her swinging at the pinata but her jacket was on so you couldn't really see her costume. I might have her put the costume on again this weekend to take a picture for her scrapbook so years from now she doesn't question why I didn't have any photos from Halloween 2009!

Fall, don’t go…I am not a friend of Winter!

I can't believe October is almost over.  Fall is my favorite season of the year and it always seems to go by so fast.

Halloween is next week. Marin is going to be Tinkerbell. If you haven't already figured it out Tinkerbell is my favorite Disney character. I've sort of been pushing it on Marin. I did her room in Tinkerbell decor, she has Tinkerbell PJ's and t-shirts and now I am making her be Tinkerbell for Halloween. But she likes it, although if she knew there was a Dora the Explorer costume out there she would be throwing a fit to be Dora instead. I just can't take too much of that Dora but I tolerate it for Marin's sake. We are going to spend Halloween in East Texas again this year. My parents always have a party with a mini bonfire to roast hot dogs. It should be a lot of fun.

I've already done my jack-o-lantern and I don't think he is going to last until Halloween. We may have to toss him by the end of the weekend. He is starting to turn to mush. I thought they were supposed withstand a little longer that a week, but whatever. Marin's cousins came in town last weekend and we went to the pumpkin patch. She picked out a small one and painted it (and painted herself in the process). I was going to try and wash the clothes she was wearing but decided to just toss them because they were covered with the paint and they were old anyway. She sure does love to make a mess.

Eric's job is going ok. And I say "ok" in that he hasn't really done anything in the month that he has been there. He is waiting to get assigned a project. We are hoping he gets in on a project with JCPenney so he can work in Plano. We dodged having to move to Seattle or rather him commuting to Seattle which is what we discussed being the most realistic option since it was only a 9 month project. I am not about to quit my job and sell my house for just a 9 month commitment. I think he has meetings with JCPenney today and Monday to see if they want him on one of their current projects. I am crossing my fingers he gets in!

Anyway, I included some pics from last weekend:

I’m Done with Walmart!! D-O-N-E! DONE!

I have never really liked Walmart. If you work for Walmart I am sorry but it is the worst store ever!! Sunday I went there because they are the only store that sells the refrigerated raw tortillas that we like. All you have to do is put them on the griddle and get tortillas that taste darn near close to homemade. So because of this I had to succumb to doing my grocery shopping there. When I was done I wheeled my cart to the front to find that with like 20 registers they only had 5 people working to check people out. The lines were 10 people deep and that is not an exaggeration, I counted! Most had carts full of groceries. I only had a few items (maybe 25 things) so I went to the self checkout because otherwise I would have walked right out of there without getting anything. But I decided I would have wasted all that shopping time. I am a self proclaimed pro on the self checkout machine...EXCEPT at Walmart! I scanned my items very fast but when I tried scanning my coupons (yes I use coupons, God forbid I use coupons!) they would not take. I have scanned coupons at other places with no problems. If I would have been at Kroger or Albertsons I would have them scanned in 30 seconds and been on my way. But no...Walmart cannot have the same great technology as the other stores (even though they make billions a year)!! I had to have a worker come and tell me I wasn't folding the coupon in order for it to scan. Since when are you supposed to fold a coupon for the scanner to read it?! Then she proceeds to tell me since I am a coupon user I should go to the regular line....oh by then I was fuming!! Because if you are going to tell me that then A) walmart should not accept coupons at all at the self checkout!! and B) they should get a NORMAL amount of staff to work on Sundays so that the  "regular" lines are not a 30 minute wait to check out!! I came home and told Eric never again will I go to Walmart. If we need something that only they sell then he is going to have to go. I am BANNING them!! I cannot tell you how much I LOVE my SuperTarget now. I will definitely be going there from now on because  not only do they have competent people who work there they have enough to cover the registers. I can't tell you how many times I have gone to the front of Target to checkout and they have someone just waiting for me. "Are you ready to checkout? I can help you right here." Music to my ears! Thank you Target! You are top shelf in my book!

Finishing it up

Yeah so Eric pretty much left you hanging on his Vancouver "series" blog. He didn't quite get you to Day Three, did he? Slacker!! I will finish it up for him...

So on the third and final full day we were there we decided to go bicycling through Stanley Park. This is a huge park. It took 1 hour to ride all the way around it. We rented the bikes from a place right across the street from the park.  There were some awesome views of the Pacific Ocean. The weather was perfect...not too cool but not hot at all and we didn't really even break a sweat. If you ever go to Vancouver I highly recommend at least seeing Stanley Park and enjoying the beautiful natural setting. After the ride we were pretty dang tired seeing as how we walked all the way there (several blocks!) rode bicycles for an hour and walked back to the hotel. So we rested up and headed to the Gastown district for some tasty beverages. Yes, Eric had to go back to the Black Frog. After that it was time for dinner so we headed back to the hotel to freshen up and I had made reservations at an Italian restaurant in Gastown called Al Porte Ristorante. It was very nice, not too extremely fancy. We had both been on a low carb diet since June so we decided to go for it. ALL IN! We both had Fettucine Alfredo. It was not the best we have ever had but after not having pasta for so long we devoured it. I had a melon martini there that was totally worth the $9 I paid for it. I mean it was heaven in a glass!! I read all the ingredients they put into it but I am not sure what ratios so I am going to have to experiment to get that perfect concoction. I am sure it is not healthy...well for one, its alcohol...and I am sure there is a lot of sugar in that melon liquor. But I don't care as long as I don't have it but every now and again. After that we went to "The White Spot" which was a restaurant/bar close to the hotel and we had some more drinks and went ahead and had a piece of chocolate cake. It was our 5 year anniversary trip...we deserved it!! We stuck together this long, we were due a huge sugar infested piece of cake. Of course, Eric only had a few bites as he is not big on sweets but he said it was good, which coming from him means something since he is a skeptic on anything chocolate. Then we knew we had to get up early and head to the airport so we just crashed for the night. It was a great trip and we had a lot of fun. Everyone should visit Canada at least once in their lifetime. Very nice people and very beautiful landscapes!

So if that wasn't enough, I am headed to Vegas next Saturday. Yes, Vegas again! Eric is staying behind with Marin since he just started his new job and cannot go. My parents go every October and invited me out there since a family friend's son is getting married while they are there. It is a cheap trip since I will stay in the same room with the parents and I had a credit with Southwest Airlines for the airfare.

So Saturday is mine and Eric's official 5 year anniversary, Oct. 3. We discussed what we wanted to do seeing as how my mom will be in town for her retirement seminar and can babysit that night for us. We already had our dinner date when we were in Vancouver so we wanted to do something a little more fun. So we decided to hang out with our friends at a bar and watch the Sooner vs Miami game. Eric is trying to get into football now...maybe not with my Sooners but he has been watching the Cowboys games. He is getting all the terminology down. He knew what "intentional grounding" was! He is a sports fan in the making!!

Countdown to Vancouver

4 DAYS...We leave for Vancouver on Saturday.  I am super duper excited. I have never been to Canada. Not quite sure what we are going to do yet. I just want to enjoy the scenery first and then find the Edgewater Casino. I want to be able to say I gambled in Canada! I am sure we'll experience Yaletown. I'd like to go whale watching but the tours I have seen online to do that are very expensive. I also want to try and see if I can get over my fear of heights so we can try out the Capilano Suspension Bridge. I'll be sure to take lots of pics to post when we get back.

Fun Mini Vacation

I had a mini vacation at the beginning of the week. I was off work on Monday and Tuesday which was very nice and a much needed time away from work. On Monday my mom, Marin and I ventured out to the Dallas Arboretum and walked through the gardens and had lunch at the small cafe there. It was nice and we enjoyed it. They had a few structures they built for their Storybook Exhibit and Marin had a lot of fun playing in that area. On Tuesday I dragged Eric to go see Harry Potter 6 with me at the movie theater. I really liked it a lot better than the previous one but I think Goblet of Fire (4th one) was the best so far. I can't wait until the last one because it will be the most action and the most dramatic. I hope it will be the best of them all.

As many of you who read this blog already know Eric lost his job recently. It has been tough for him looking for something else but he has a positive attitude about it. We booked a trip to Vancouver a few months ago and we are supposed to go in September. With our current situation I am not sure if I should cancel the trip and be out $100 in cancellation fees or if we should just go ahead and go anyway. Hmm...I am the worst at making these kinds of decisions.

Made $371…Not too shabby!!

The garage sale was a success! We made $371 which is awesome since my goal was only to make $300. Of course we didn't sell everything so now I have to decide what to keep and what to send to the Advocacy Center. I did use some of the money to buy a rug for the living room. I love the laminate floors but felt we needed something to bring the furniture together in the living room since the breakfast nook has laminate floors also and it was hard to feel a separation between the two rooms. Before it was ceramic tile and the living room was carpet.

The new Harry Potter movie is coming out this week. I am not going to see it until next week. I have Monday and Tuesday of next week off so I am going to spend a little time with my mom and Marin on Monday and then drag Eric to the movies to see it with me on Tuesday. This weekend is Eric's birthday. His family is coming in to help him celebrate. I asked him if he wanted me to make him a cake and he gave me the "look". If you know Eric well then you know he doesn't like sweets...he likes sweet and sour candy like sour skittles and sour straws but he does not like cake or cookies or any of that junk. How someone cannot like chocolate is beyond me but that is just the way he is. Plus he is also watching carbs like I am so he can't have anything sweet anyway. I guess he'll just have to settle for a case of beer for his birthday.

Garage Sale!!

For the 4th we were invited to our friends house in Fairview. They have a really nice pool they just built last year and we got to lounge around in it for most of the day. Marin really seemed to enjoy it. I don't know if I have allergies or if I caught a cold but for the past

EXTREME FRUSTRATION

Lately, I have been extra frustrated with the things going on in my life. Here are some of the things I hate right now: 1. When you constantly email and call someone and they totally ignore you and never email or call back. 2. When someone walks all over you and you totally let them!! And act like its for the best!!! WAKE UP and smell the betrayal!! 3. When someone can't take care of their obligations and responsibilities! You made your