New Year's Eve

It's hard to believe that there are less than 8 hours left in 2008 (Central time anyway). It has been both a wonderful and sad year. Our little girl arrived healthy and happy in March, but we also lost several loved ones this year.
My hope is that everyone has safe and happy celebrations tonight to welcome in 2009. We wish everyone a joyous new year.

Wii Fit

One of my Christmas presents was a Wii Fit and I love it! I have used it 4 days in a row so far and I'm sore!!! I really like the hoola hoop games in the aerobics section. I'm hoping that I will be able to use the Wii everyday, for at least 15 minutes, to help support my weight loss efforts.

Back to the routine

We are back to our normal routine, for at least the next few days. It was really nice to have hubby home all last week, but it's also nice to have things back to normal for a little while.

White Christmas.......melting

I had my first White Christmas this week, but now after a thunderstorm of all things, the snow is melting.
Overall it was a good holiday, but I really missed my family. It didn't help that we started things off with a scare and trip to the ER for the little one. Every thing was fine, but it's not how you want to start a two day period that will already be full of stress.

Da Bears

The Chicago Bears played the Packers last night on Monday night football and squeaked out a win in overtime, for the second week in a row. People seem to be getting excited because in the Bears win on Sunday and the Vikings lose, then the Bears will make the playoffs. But, I don't think the bears deserve to be a playoff team.
If they play well in the first part of the game, they stink in the second half and lose. If they play poorly the first half or 3/4 of the game, they rely on a few good plays and luck to squeeze out a win. That's not a play off bound team in my book. A playoff team puts together 4 quarters of good football.

This week

I really think this is going to be a good week! Hubby is on vacation all week, a much needed break for him, and I think it's great. This will also be little girl's first Christmas and I'm really hoping it's a good one.
It's also going to be my first WHITE Christmas! The only downside is how incredibly cold it is this week.

Jet Dry

I never really thought that Jet Dry did much when you put it in the dishwasher, I really thought that it was just an "extra" that didn't do much except make money for who ever sells it. Well, the Jet Dry dispenser in my dishwasher was empty and I kept neglecting to refill it - and the dishes were looking icky after coming out clean. Everything has spots on it!
So, I refilled the jet dry dispenser and have been amazed at the change. The dishes actually seem drier and look cleaner when they come out. I'm SO glad, especially for the baby's bottles. I don't feel like have to wash them by hand after they've come out of the dishwasher anymore!

Snow and Commuting

Yesterday morning, the weather people started talking about a large snow storm that was headed toward Chicago. They said it would be here around 3 PM yesterday, so I got out ran all my errands to get home with the baby before the storm got here. 3 PM came and went with no storm and the weather people said it would be here at 7 PM. Again, 7 came and went with no snow. Just before 11 PM, we heard the sleet start. At some point during the night the sleet turned into snow.
I've been listening to the news this morning and they are talking about all of the troubles on the roads and with the mass transit system because of the ice and snow. All kinds of school districts are closed. When the weather is like this, should companies REALLY expect people to make it into the office?

Snow and more Snow

It feels like it has been cold here forever! It started snowing on Nov 30 and has been really cold since. It did warm up for a little bit over the weekend and we saw our grass for the first time in 2 weeks, but the snow is BACK and more is on the way.
It looks like we might have a white Christmas.

Bread Baking

Yesterday we spent the day over at my sister-in-laws house making Lemon Poppy Seed bread. To be honest, I was less than excited about going, but it turned out really well. Everyone got along, SIL was nice, and she even complimented me on having a good idea.
I still don't know what caused the attitude adjustment, but I'm glad things seem to be getting better.

In laws

Yesterday we had a birthday party for my Father-in-law and sister-in-law. And it was one of the first times that SIL actually treated me like a person!! I know that's a sad statement to make, but I finally feel like we are making progress on the relationships with my husband's family.

Haircuts

I've been going to the same hair salon since I moved to the Chicago area in 2001. I even stayed at the same salon when the stylist I was going to left, but now the second stylist I've been going to is about to start maternity leave. She'll be coming back in March, but with my hair, I can't wait three months for a haircut. I think I'm going to use this opportunity to check out a couple of places closer to home. I could afford to play a little bit more for a haircut (another $5 or so) if I didn't have to drive so far to get my hair done.

Scandal Part 2

The scandal surrounding our governor continues to ripple out and capture other people. The latest victim is Jesse Jackson Jr who, while not under investigation, is believed to be listed as a candidate in the governor's captured conversations.
So, whether or not Mr. Jackson participated in the governor's plots or not, there is now a cloud around him. Mr. Jackson's heated denials just make the cloud of suspicion worse.
Mr. Jackson may have been a good candidate for the empty Illinois Senate seat, but I don't think the people could trust him now if he were appointed. Really, any of the previously named potential candidates are tainted by Tuesday's arrest.

Illinois Govenor

I received a shock yesterday morning when looking at the news online, our esteemed governor had been arrested. I never have been real impressed with Blagojevich; it's hard to be impressed with a governor who refuses to spend time in the state capital and has horrible relationships with almost every other elected official and the state legislature.
The kicker is what made the US Attorney go ahead with the arrest before the indictment... WIRE TAPS of the governor's home show that he was trying to sell an appointment to the vacant Illinois senate seat. Blagojevich felt entitled to compensation for appointing someone to fill the President Elects former seat. It's completely unbelievable that someone would try to use an appointment to Congress to fill their own pockets.

Baby Toys

When we went to my parent's house in Houston, they had all kinds of toys for our little one to play with. It made me realize that she is way past playing with the toys we have for her here. I'm wondering if the fact that she's bored is why she goes on so many adventures in our family room. If we weren't so close to Christmas, I would have to go get her more toys! I'm afraid we're going to have this problem every year... Little Girl's birthday is in March, so we are going to have to find excuses to get a few new toys in the summer and early fall to keep her from getting bored.

Cotton Bowl

After a very exciting season, it looks like my Red Raiders will be playing in the Cotton Bowl on January 2, 2009 against Ole Miss. It should be a very exciting game!!!

Knock me over with a feather

You could have knocked me over with a feather yesterday afternoon when our phone rang and it was my sister-in-law. She had a list of things she wanted to talk to me about, mostly related to Christmas. It's sad that I am surprised she called, but SHE never calls here. We normally end up communicating with her through my Mother-in-law.

I'm hoping we may be on track for improving relationships with MIL and SIL.

Texas Tech and Mike Leach

Dear Texas Tech,

Please do not let Mike Leach leave and go to another school!! We really like our coach and love what he's done for the football program. Please do what you can to keep our coach!

How to keep the baby girl warm

It has been really cold around our house lately and I have a concern about keeping our little girl warm in her crib. At 8 months, she is too big for most of the wearable sleep blankets, but she won't stay under her regular blanket. She didn't sleep very well last night and I wonder if it wasn't because she was cold. Does anyone have ideas about how to keep her warm at night???

Baby or little girl?

My daughter is 8 months old and has been doing so many new things lately.... When I look at her, it's hard to see the baby we brought home in March. She's starting to look and act more like a little girl. Just over the week we were gone for Thanksgiving, she started doing new things. There are times when I miss the baby, but it's fun to celebrate the little victories with her.

Back from Vacation

We spent the last week visiting in Houston for Thanksgiving. It was a really great trip and it was really nice to see everyone. The only problem with being gone that long is that it seems to take forever to get caught back up!