12/23/15

The Last Month, In a Nutshell


Whew! What a month!

Well, you haven’t heard from me, like REALLY heard from me in quite some time now. A month I think. It’s been a doozy. Let me fill you in on everything I’ve been up to.

I had a week-long vacation in November, and I planned on doing a lot of stuff with my blog then. However, as it goes for me, everything fell apart. That first Friday night, once it was officially my vacation, I turned on my laptop to nothing. A blank screen. The thing was completely dead. Not powerless dead, but dead-dead. Go figure.

Saturday night I took it to Geek squad, and I’d be paying so much to have it looked at that we’d be better off buying a new one. So we did. And we had them transfer my stuff from the old one to the shiny new one. I didn’t get my computer back until Tuesday night! I got home and went to get onto the internet to do a blog post, and wouldn’t you know it, our router died. I bought a new one on Black Friday, the hubs got it up and running on Saturday, and we had plans all weekend. So not a single blog post, or anything really for nine days straight.

Thanksgiving was good. We went to the Lococos’ house to eat Thanksgiving dinner and play games. It’s always such a good time. I love that family! But of course, my Mom and I have a standing tradition to go Black Friday shopping (which is now on Thanksgiving). It’s a good thing I see that side of the family a lot, otherwise it would really stink to have to leave them.

I went to the ballet for the first time. It was beautiful! I was seriously mesmerized the entire time. It was also my first time at the Fabulous Fox Theater (or at least that I can remember). It would be so neat to go with Gene sometime. Make a fancy date night out of it. Dress up, get dinner somewhere new, and see a show. Wishful thinking with only one date night a month.


My Dad’s birthday came and went on December 2nd. I can never pick out anything good for him, so of course I got him something he didn’t like, and it’s sitting in a bag waiting to be returned or exchanged. He never really seems too thrilled with anything I get him, but maybe he’s just a bad gift receiver like me. Even if I really love something, I don’t think I ever express it the right way. Maybe it’s that “resting bitch-face” I have.

Gene and I went to a concert on a Friday night. It was a pretty good show, but I worried about my Dad watching both girls. He had watched Alice already for a few hours, then we dropped Emma off with him so that we could head straight to the concert. I worried about him being overwhelmed, so much so that I could barely enjoy myself. I probably won't be doing that again. But, the first few people/bands were pretty good! Can't remember any of their names, but I do remember that the last band was Three Doors Down and I was less than amused. I made Gene leave at the fourth song that was heavy stuff; I didn't have the patience to wait for their oldies.

My Dad and I sold his signs at a craft fair one Saturday morning. It was the first one they ever had there, but it was a great turnout! And we did a pretty good job money-wise! I'll definitely do it again next year. I like doing those things. 

We have a Secret Santa thing going on at work (Wednesday of this week is the last day for it), and I drew someone I really know nothing about. I also don’t like to ask for hints, but instead I creeped on Facebook to kind of get an idea what she might like, and I just kind of flew by the seat of my pants. I hope I didn’t screw up too bad. I like the way we do it; it’s one day each week, for four weeks. The first week is something edible, the second week is something DIY (a lot of people cheat and buy a craft), the third week is something $5 or less, and the last is a $10 gift. I mean, I gave all stuff that I would have liked to get, so hopefully she liked it too.

A few coworkers got together for an “Ugly Sweater Party” at Trainwreck at Westport. It was a great time, but unfortunately everyone bailed by 9pm. Boo! I guess I had bigger expectations. I was ready to go all night! It was definitely a change from our Crown Vision all-nighters 8 years ago. It was easy to drop $100 in one night with those crazies. I guess we’re all too old now. Or maybe too broke during the holidays.


I went to my first professional football game! I’ve been married to a sports fanatic for over ten years now, and this was the first football game he has ever taken me to. I guess I thought it would be louder and more of a to-do (like maybe what you see on tv), but it was half-empty and the “fun stuff” was sub-par. It was still great to get to experience it for the first time, and the nachos were super yummy! Almost better than Busch Stadium nachos. I said almost.


My cousin’s little boy had a bowling birthday party a couple weekends ago. It was so cute. The kids all played in the arcade, ate pizza, and bowled seven frames. Haha. They couldn’t even keep their focus on bowling long enough to finish an entire game. Their patience was tested though by waiting for eight kids to take turns, so I can’t blame them. I had thought about doing that for Emma’s fourth birthday, but now I’m second-guessing it only because of that fact. We’d have to only put like three kids on a lane to make it go faster. Then how many lanes would I need? Oy. I’m seriously teetering on Chuckie Cheese!

Then there was the Morris Family Christmas brunch, which is always a good time. We got to catch up with each other, and see those family members that you only see at the holidays. Everyone got to see Emma and meet Alice, and we played “Rob Your Neighbor.” The gift I took was a hit – a Selfie Stick. Haha. I took home a set of greeting cards, an ornament, a bottle of wine, and a puzzle (I may have claimed Gene’s gift). Emma got some chocolate coins too, which she immediately ate in one sitting. All in all, it was a good time.


Alice had her 6 month check-up last Monday. She’s nowhere near as big as Emma was, but she’s still a big girl. Something like 76th percent for weight. She got all of her shots, including a flu shot, and hated every second. I do have to say again that her doctor is phenomenal. Well, he’s both her doctor and Emma’s, and he’s very holistic which means he tells me not to use Vicks, or Tylenol, or cough medicine, but he knows his stuff so I usually stick to what he says. He reassured me that the lump in her chest is completely normal and will be there until she’s into Kindergarten more than likely. He told me all about what it is, and it made me feel so much better to hear it all from him. It was a good visit. I felt so bad for Alice though with all of those shots, and then I had to send her home with my Mom so that I could go to work. She probably hated me that whole day. FYI - she is a full crawler now, can pull up and walk herself with help (think couch, walker, etc.), she's eating yogurt bites, and so much more!



The Pinterest party that a lot of us girls do annually was last Thursday. It was okay. I don’t really fit in anymore. I mean, all of those girls are such close friends because they go out with each other all the time. I can’t go out like that anymore, so it has really put a damper on my friendships. I can never even join in on the conversations because I don’t know the people they refer to, or I can’t judge a person’s character enough to joke or kid with them. This might have been my last year doing that since I don’t really see my free time expanding anytime soon to better those relationships. And let’s face it, even if I do get more free time, it would be used to do things like see movies, get pedicures, try new restaurants, go to the mall… things like that. My days of hitting up the usual bars on off hours are over I think. I sometimes miss it, but I also miss all the little things other ladies (without young kids) take for granted. 

Saturday was our big Puder Family Christmas at my parents’ house. I had a prior engagement that morning, but as soon as I could I headed to help Mom with the preparations. My Mom and I are nothing alike. I enjoy hosting parties and don’t find it stressful usually; okay, maybe mildly stressful sometimes. But my Mom, man she gets so stressed out over the silly stuff. Her house is always so clean, but she has to deep clean it top to bottom for an entire week beforehand. Then, she worries about what people want to eat, what they want to drink, having enough, etc. I’m the type of person to make sure you can’t see my dust bunnies, clean the toilet well, and then the food and drinks I buy are what you get. Haha. If my house wasn’t so teeny tiny with a torn apart basement I would just have it there. But I couldn’t, so my Mom was in hell and I was there to feel her wrath. We survived though. Barely. ;-)

And here we are at Christmas week. I have a ton of presents to wrap still, and one more thing to find for my Dad, but overall I think I’m in good shape. The annual Christmas Eve Lococo Bash is always a highlight so I’m really looking forward to that. Again, I just love that family! I’ll make a special breakfast Christmas morning, we will open presents and place Baby Jesus in the manger under the tree. Then, after all that is said and done (and who knows, maybe even after naps), we will head on over to my parents’ house to do it all again. It’s sure to be a long and drawn out, semi-boring day. But, it’s not about fun or presents, right? Right! It’s about Jesus being born to later save us all.




Can you just imagine being Mary? You had a baby boy who will grow to be the Savior of us all! I don’t know that I would even feel allowed to reprimand him if need be. Or was he even a typical little boy? Okay, I’m off topic.

Needless to say, I’ve had a lot going on and I’m looking forward to having some downtime after the holidays. I don’t have plans yet for New Years Eve, but Gene and I were going to have our date night that night. Although I haven’t even heard of anyone making plans yet, so who knows, maybe we will do our own thing, or maybe cancel altogether and do date night another time.

So that’s it. My last month in three pages of 11 sized font. Good thing I took out all the fine detail, otherwise you’d be reading for an hour I’m sure!


Are you as busy as I have been?   

Emma and Alice having fun!

Emma's Preschool Picture


Daddy and Alice playing!




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