5K of Cheer!

Okay, so this actually happened this morning, but I’m sharing anyway.  J

My parents sent Dawne and the fam two cards, one for Thanksgiving and one for Hanukkah.

Dawne: They are so good to me.

Me: Aww, that’s so sweet of them to send you those… I didn’t get one.

The last couple of weeks, I’ve been super negative and depressed.  I finally decided that it must be the medication that I started taking a couple of weeks ago.  When I told my co-worker, he looked up the medication.

Ryan: The side effects include depression but it doesn’t say anything about negativity or being a b*tch, so I think that might just be you.

Either way, I’m feeling a lot better. J

Let’s see, on Thursday, I did NOT going to the Xbox One launch party, b/c I was still on that medication, and didn’t want to be a Debbie Downer. On Friday, we celebrated the Sabbath, and then played Ticket to Ride for the first time.   I lost, and I had fun.  Weird.   Although, people have been telling me that Tsuro is like Ticket to Ride, and b/c I had never played I would just nod politely.  Now, I realize, that they were all on crack. 

On Saturday, I got some shopping done, watched some films, edited some college essays, all before heading over to a party at my boss’s house.   I didn’t stay out too late though, because I had to get up and do something awesome on Sunday. 

The Ugly Sweater Run

My Co-worker bought a shirt on the site that the Ugly Sweater Run recommended.  He thought it was a festive reindeer sweater, despite the “Threesome” title.  When he realized what he had planned on wearing (for photos to be sent to his grandmother), he was thoroughly embarrassed – especially because he got a matching sweater for his pup.   He wore it anyway. 

This run was for Toys for Tots, and was the main reason that I signed up.  The other reasons were that it was not a timed run, walking/jogging was encouraged, instead of Gatorade at the stops, there was hot cocoa, and you got free beer at the end of the race.  Pretty awesome.  Never-the-less, I almost completely forgot about the Toys for Tots part of the day and made Jordan turn the car around at the last minute.  We managed to pull out two huge bags of brand new games and toys out of our house in under 5 minutes.  Go Team!

Lucas: That Bellevue Academy looks more like a Costco than a school.  Like they are selling the kids wholesale.

Dawne: I can’t think of anything worse than keeping kids in big cardboard boxes.

Me: What are you talking about? Kids love hanging out in cardboard boxes!

Me: Oh man! I just looked right into the sun.

Lucas: Ouch! I had to do it after you.

We came home, hot tubbed, showered and then headed back out to Laina and Mo’s open house. Laina and Mo bought a house and then, the very next day after signing the paperwork, Mo was shipped out to Afghanistan.  He’s on a two week leave now, and upon entering his house for the first time (he’s been gone since June), he started leaving his stuff all over to annoy Laina.  I asked him how much he had packed for the trip and he told me, “I have a small bag that contains two pairs of underwear, two shirts, and a pair of pants, my iPad and The Thursday War (a Halo Novel).”  All the essentials!

When I came home, this little guy was on the dining room table waiting for me.  Such a little Stich. 

I hope you have a wonderful holiday tomorrow!

Planksgiving

Update 11/11 - 11/18

There's nothing like having a good old fashioned religious conversation to get ready for the holidays!  Lucas kicked off the discussion.

Lucas: So Jews don't believe that Jesus was the Messiah.

Zach: Yes, Jews believe that he existed, we just don't believe he was the Messiah.

Lucas: What's it called when he's supposed to come back?

Me: The second coming?

Lucas: So if the Messiah shows up... then what?

Zach: Look, it's a two strike system and Christians already used one of their strikes.

Me: Or, we were SAVED!

Several days later we had a similar conversation about Heaven, and it ended about the same way. 

We've been jumping into the swing of the holiday movies, and are only days away from the holiday Pandora stations (really, I'm just waiting for the first gift that I wrap, though, I think I'll need it sooner.) 

Dr. Rach and her co-workers are participating in "Planksgiving."  Yes, every day, they all collectively plank and then increase the length of said planking throughout the month.  I salute their efforts, and am Thankful that my company is not enforcing this same exercise.

On Friday, we celebrated the one, the only, Shana Dueux.  Over some delicious food, wine and cake, we were taught by the lovely Nikki to paint.  There were two tables - my table was very into directions.  The other table was not.  This table also yelled to me several times "That needs to go into the Monday email!" but I didn't hear ANY of the incredibly hilarious, but mostly likely inappropriate, quips.  I did see Jen get up and do this, but I can't offer an explanation. 

Here was the final results of our creative efforts:

On Saturday, I had a tremendous headache, so I couldn't bring myself to go out.  I did however, watch a lot of Bomb Girls.  On Sunday, I got to go to Tyler and Amy's baby shower.  I have a pretty standard present that I like to give at baby showers, but that idea got completely thrown out the window when I saw that my favorite books we're on their registry.

It's also getting a little chilly out, so it was about time for Percy to try on his Sea Shepherd hoodie:

I also forgot to tell you that another one of the college app questions I heard from Lucas.

If you could cook something for the college admission board, what would you make?

Lucas: A seasonal slice of pumpkin pie with some hot lemonade.

Shana'll Punch You Out

Finally catching up, here is the update from 11/4-11/11.  Can you feel my relief from there?

This week was actually kind of rough, but mostly because I am an emotional being who doesn't like change.  So, I think I'll just skip that and run head first into the funny bits.  We went to IHOP for dinner, and on our way home this was the conversation I heard.

Lucas:  The Rolling Stones don't feel Bristish to me.  They feel American.

Zach: Haven't you ever heard of the British Invasion... Of 1812

Lucas: Rolling Stones are too good to be British.

Zach: The Beatles are British.

Lucas: Yeah, but they don't have the balls, I mean the rhythm.

Zach: Are you saying that the Beatles weren't very good at music?

Me: On Sunday, I'm going to go to Becky's Shabam class.

Dawne: I'll go, but I don't have very good rhythm.

Lucas: Seriously.  We were in Disney the other day, and she was clapping along on the off beat.

Dawne: I guess when I gave birth to you, you took all of my rhythm.

Lucas: I don't think that's how genetics work.

Dawne: I guess this is why I was so bad at trapeze.  It's hard to jump at the right time to catch the other person.

Lucas: Yeah, basically all you need is to not have the exact opposite rhythm.

Lucas, and consequently, the whole house was grounded this weekend to work on college applications.  

Lucas: I'm on house arrest.

Jordan from HK: Do your ankles chafe?

We decided the best course of action was to watch not-so-good/non-distracting movies all day.  One of these was the 2 1/2 + hour movie, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. 

Lucas: This is taking a long time to load it's like they could have mailed it to us.

Lucas: Heh a woman driver that's ridiculous.

Lucas: When does this take place?

Me: 1908.

Lucas: I didn't think they had sound back then.

Zach: They had sound back then, just not recorded sound.

We also started watching some Christmas films.

Zach: There can't be a Christmas movie without an eviction notice.

We stopped to make ourselves lunch, at which time Lucas continued to complain about the weekend plans.

Lucas: How come you didn't get into any schools, Zach?

Zach: I must have got in somewhere, I went to three colleges.

Lucas: Did you know that the most dangerous part of the house is the kitchen? I learned that from Tom and Jerry.

After the essays, there are also some hefty questionnaires.  A couple of Lucas answer's amused me. 

What is your guilty pleasure?

I don't have anything to prove.  Although some less, open-minded individuals might mock my love of Pauly Shore.

What is your most prized possession?

My "Gleaming the Cube" movie poster.

If you could be any animal, what would it be?

A Koala bear, as they too are picky eaters.  They go as far as licking each leaf to make sure it is edible.  

What is a talent you wish you possessed?

I wish I could talk or watch anything to do with the Apollo missions without tearing up. 

On Sunday, Shane and Cathy hosted the monthly brunch.  It was lovely, as always, even if there were some tears and Dawne ended up going home with a migraine.  We got caught up with everyone, which was grrreat! 

Matty:  Now that I'm working at home I have house plants for co-workers. I talk to them and water them, sometimes they die, sometimes I cry, but there are good days too.

Because 2 year old Fynn was talking about Nala, I asked him if he also remembered Percy.  He kinda just stared at me, which you know, is cool.  But then ten minutes later, he was telling everyone, "Percy is a dog." Yes, he is Fynn!

Last week, Shana took Dr. Rach's ticket for the sounders game.  Dr. Rach has tickets in an area that is normally very calm, where people sit and enjoy the game.  Not when Shana went though.  That day, there were a bunch of rowdy people in front of her, arguing an cursing and such.  Then, two guys in back of her started yelling and cursing, so she got up and told them to be quiet, that it wasn't their fight.  At which point, the one guy threw his full beer in her face.  Without thinking, and in perfect boxing form, she did a quick jabbing punch to his face.  While blood started to trickle down from his nose, his friend extended his half full beer in apology and surrender.  Shana declined the beverage. 

The rest of Sunday was pretty chill as Dawne was recovering, and Lucas had essays and projects to do.  We watched another Christmas film, and then I had dash to Gold's Gym where Becky was to teach her first Shebam class, and boy was she ready to dance!

Fangs of Mallow

Update from 10/28-11/4.

On Monday, Diana came over and we tried making something from Pinterest.  Technically, Mike sent this to me, but it's got Pinterest written all over it.  I had a feeling that it was going to be one of those tasty but disastrous experiments - but it actually came out all right.  Must have been all of the quality control tests we implemented.  

During our sugar coma, we started chatting and it became very clear that Diana has already gone full mom, in that she is very disconnected with popular culture.  I mean she didn’t know about any of the popular viral videos (can you imagine!) And had never heard of YOLO.

Zach: You know, it’s like when you Twitter Text YOLO! While drunk driving. 

Lucas: I can’t believe you didn't know what that meant. You're such a mom - even my rabbi says YOLO is dated.

I gave out the cookies at work, and everyone took pics with the “teeth” in their mouth (though no-one would let me share said pics.) After work, I had the pleasure of meeting up with Dr. Rach for drinks.  Very thankful that she still likes to go to a doctor in Bellevue so we can have rando meet ups.  Turns out I had been to her doctor, and that doctor gave me medicine back in June that I was afraid to try.  After Dr. Rach got over her need to tell me I was ridiculous (I’m not sure she actually verbalized it, b/c she’s super sweet, but I’m positive, she was thinking it) she promised she would ask Anders if my fears we’re founded (they weren’t.)  Of course, now if the medicine does work, I’ll be weird about going back to the doctor to tell her that it worked, b/c it took me so long to listen to her in the first place, but you know, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. 

OH! It was national cat day, and to celebrate, UBER and the ASPCA teamed up to deliver kittens to your office for 15 minutes of snuggle time.  I tried every ten minutes to get kittens here, but alas, they were being snuggled by others. 

A couple of weeks ago, my father told me a secret that I wasn’t supposed to tell my mom about.  The only reason he was telling me was because he couldn’t bear being the only one who knew.  A couple of days ago, I got a call from my parents, and my mom told me that he had told her the secret (not that she hadn’t noticed anyway…) Frita got on the phone then, and told me, you know why I didn’t want to tell her? She’s already told people all the way in CA.  She can’t help herself.  This is funny for many reasons.  One, it’s not one of those things that is so juicy that you’d want to tell people.  Two, my mother is exceptionally good at keeping secrets. Lastly, the other person she told, other than Uncle Jack, was my brother, who was going to find out anyway b/c he was directly involved.  Either way, if you want to know what will happen you’ll have to ask Frita, or wait for Momela to call you.  I hear she’s getting to everyone, one at a time. 

Oh! Not funny at all, I heard that Jackie fainted in Science class and needed 12 stitches near her eye.  As a fainter myself, and a magnet for mishap, I’m surprised in all of my faints, I’ve never needed to be rushed the the hospital.  Though, that one time, in elementary school, when I fainted during a chorus concert, and Rebecca caught me was close call – and also why, the tallest girl in the class had to stand on the floor for the rest of her singing career. 

Lucas: That’s such a good idea Tiffany.  I can’t believe I didn’t think of it.

I feel like I should be insulted that he was so shocked. 

On Sunday, we had Diana’s baby shower.  I think everyone had a fabulous time, even if I did find this on the counter the next day:

Percy ended up getting really sick towards the end of the party, as in he threw up 15 times within 20 minutes (including on his way to the Vet and again at the vet.  I’m not sure how so much could come out of a little pup, but $500 dollars later, with no additional information, I brought him home.  Turns out Nala also got sick (Nala tends to hide when she’s sick, where Percy likes to come find me and have me hold him while he’s sick – FUN.)  The next day, after a perusal of the yard, we’re convinced that they ate some wild mushrooms. 

And here’s a video for funsies:

Nothing Warmer Than A Warm Soul

Update from 10/21-10/27.

Last week D&J were in Germany/Amsterdam gallivanting with the lovely Kathi (oh, and working).  Meanwhile, back on the ranch, I left helpful little sticky notes all over the house to remind Zach to take the dogs out.  Later, I received a facebook message and call from Zach telling me that my dog was driving him crazy.  I kinda laughed and asked him what he was doing.  When Zach said he couldn't find Percy, I thought he had just let him out and just couldn't get him inside the house.  I didn't understand he had been lost for 2 hours.  I gave him some ideas to get him back, and then when I didn't hear from him, I assumed everything had worked out.  That was not the case.  I jumped in the car to come home and look for him, when I got a call from a neighbor (on the parkway level) telling me that they had Percy.  Thank God.  When I told my mom, she said, "You know, if Sean or Maureen lost one of my grand-kids for three hours I'd be furious."  And, I would be furious, if Zach hadn't been tortured for three hours looking for the munchkin.  Jordan then sent me this with a note saying, "I imagine this is what Percy says to Casper and Nala."

By the way, the next time Zach told me that Percy wouldn't go outside until Zach picked him up to put him on the leash, afraid that he would be kidnapped again.  AND he didn’t even apologize for scaring us.

Zach: I can't believe no one liked my Jenga post today.

Lucas: Oh, yeah! People stopped using Facebook and that's why you don't have any likes.

On Friday, Sabbath was held at Red Robin.  Luke's BFF, Arda joined us.  Talk about a fun person.  Or rather, I'm about to talk about a fun person.  Arda refuses to change after Crew.  This means, that on any given day, regardless of the weather or his social obligations, he arrives short shorts, with a tank top that is slightly longer than his shorts, making him appear to be walking around without any pants. 

Lucas: I can't believe you can order a milkshake, aren't you cold?

Arda: There's nothing warmer than a warm soul, Lucas.

The following day, Lucas and Arda made a French cooking video for class in which they made beignets.  They taped it several times, one serious, one joking, one with accents and one to completely make the audience feel uncomfortable a la Andy Kauffman.   I actually don't think Arda even takes French, he was just helping Lucas out.  In fact at one point I overheard him say, "French, English, it's all Greek to me."

Oh! Let's not forget that Zach was annoyed by the fact that I slept in on Saturday (until 9 am - which wasn't exactly true because I was up at 5 to let the pups out.)  As soon as I finished making coffee and feeding the furred and aquatic creatures, I had to start working on a last minute costume for Zach.   We ended up with Linus Van Pelt - and it was adorbs.  I also ran into a situation that made me feel old, even though my stance should have made me feel young.

Zach: I have to work until 12, so I can't go to any parties this weekend.

Me: This is a college party, it won't even start until 11.  I think you're good. 

Zach: Um, no.  That's not how parties work.

Me: ?? In my day...

On Sunday, we watched a movie called, "The Way, Way Back."  In it, there was a young 14 year old who was a little on the reserved, awkward side.  Lucas commented that he reminded him of himself, and all of his friends.  This young boy, quickly meets the owner of a water park, who is awesome and funny, and makes the kid feel like he too, is someone awesome and fun.  As I watched this guy, I realized he totally reminded me of my sister Maureen.  How lucky am I that I never had an opportunity to really feel like that awkward teen because I had this incredible person in my life who made me feel super cool, and entertained me every single moment.  :) Too bad, so sad, that I didn't live up to the role for Luke - but you know, you win some, you lose some and other adages.