Is it the weekend yet?

Friday at 4:00 can not come any faster! I am getting started on the painting as soon as I get home today and can not wait! We were planning for next weekend, but Grandma is able to keep Addison this weekend, so it works out better anyone because I'm the type of person that once I get an idea in my head, I have to carry it out as soon as possible. Last night after Addison went to grandma's, I started clearing out the old den to get ready for cleaning and tape. We have a lot of junk! It was all hidden in the closet! I also switched closets and got a huge bag of stuff to take into work. We have a "free garage sale" table in the bathroom. I have actually found cool things on it!! Pretty cleaver-huh? Addison is going to stay over at grandma's again tonight because we are supposed to get freezing ran and sleet tonight and tomorrow morning and I wouldn't dare drive in that!

Another thing I'm excited about is The Flat Belly Diet! I know, I don't need to lose weight, but I sure could eat healthier! I am at the library right now because my book finally came in-I have been on the waiting list. I always said before I had kids that I would never buy "kid food." Well, that backfired! Last week we had fish sticks. I would have never dreamed of buying fish sticks in the past! Jack and I both agreed that there was more breading than fish itself. So, now on I will buy plain fish and jazz it up with spices, etc. Also no more frozen fries--never ever bought those in the past either! I can easily cut up potatoes and bake them. There are some great recipes in the book, so I'm planning my grocery list around them. Gosh, forgot I have to squeeze grocery shopping and laundry into this horribly busy weekend. There's never enough time.

I will be glad once the rooms are painted and Addison is in her new quiet room. I know she will sleep so much better and since the room is set up a little different than the other, there is more room to put stuff. Can't wait to post pictures of the finished products! Wish me luck I can move furniture (actually Jack will bc of my back) prep and paint two rooms and then put everything back together by Saturday night. Did I hear you say I'm crazy? Well maybe, but have you ever seen me when I'm on a roll and can't wait to finish something to sit back and look at the finished product? Plus, with me painting and organizing the rooms it is one closer step to selling our house in hopefully 16 months (that is when our stupid ARM is up and we will need to refi anyway). What a better time to move to something larger? With a basement. And a pool. And a laundry room. And a master bath. And well, you get the idea.

Happy New Year!

I know it is not January 1, but close enough!! We had a very nice New Year's Eve-Addison went to bed about 7:30 and Jack and I watched a movie. We were in bed before midnight, but did wake up because everyone on our street was putting off fireworks. On New Year's Day we went to Aunt JuJu's for our traditional dinner of pork and sauerkraut along with spaghetti bake. It was so yummy! I was lucky enough to be off work on Friday and got a lot of housework done.

Saturday I went back to Centerville to have my hair cut-it's short!! I will try to have Jack take some pictures in the next couple of days to post. We also went to our neighbor's house on Saturday evening so that Addison could play with Carson. He got a John Deer tractor for Christmas so they played on that and danced. Both of them cried when we had to leave.

Addison was 19 months old yesterday!! Now she's even closer to 2 years old. I can't believe I just typed that. Time flies by so quickly. She repeats EVERYTHING anyone says. She likes to do dishes and vacuum. Boy, they sure learn by example!!

I'm probably going to jinx myself with my long resolution list. I forgot to add that I'm not going to associate myself with people who are fake and surround my family with people who are genuine and honestly care about friendship. It is more than important to me to put Addison first and a lot of people without children do not understand that (JackieD understands though)! I want 2009 to be the year of family, friendship, and fun! Fun meaning I'm finally going to get out and do stuff like the zoo, museum, camping, Lake Erie, boating/jet skiing, gardening, and maybe taking Zippy Angel to learn some agility tricks. I would love her to learn how to do flips and jumps like the dogs on TV! Hehe!

Jack and I are also working on our home this year. Before Addison is 5 (which is only in 3 years!) we need to move to a different school district, so we are going to start doing some upgrades. Eventhough we bought our house new, the builder used all contractor grade stuff and it sucks! We have started with buying matching furniture for the living room (our bedroom is next). We have NEVER had any furniture that has matched, let alone really had anything new (it was all hand me downs). We are also switching Addison's room with the den so that it is quieter in her room. I found the most amazing color of paint for her room at Home Depot this week on their $5 "OOPS" rack! I now I have to find a neutral color to cover the pepto pink in her current room, which will be the new guest room. Jack is building a headboard for the bed and I'm thinking about sewing some new curtains...

We are hoping to paint/move rooms next weekend, which is the long Martin Luther King holiday. We have to take apart the desk and Addion's crib, which will be a pain, but worth it in the end. I love to paint! I will take before and afters. Jack's bathroom is next...I also cleaned "my" garage last weekend ("my" garage is the one attached to the house, "Jack's" garage is the detached one he built). I took a before pic, but haven't totally finished, so when I do, I will take an "after" and post it.

Let's see, what else? I'm back to work and love the routine. I got a new police scanner in my office and it is hilarious to listen to the dispatch. People call the police for the stupidest stuff! Yesterday someone poured water on another person's Playstation so they called the police and had them dispatched!!

Sorry no pictures today...maybe later tonight.

Happy New Year's Eve

Times sure have changed--I guess when you are 29 and 30 with an 18 month old, no one wants to hang out with you on New Year's Eve! Just kidding--we were invited to Katie's in Columbus but decided it would be too hard with Addison. Hope you guys all have fun up there!! Addison is sick again, came home from daycare yesterday with a 100 degree fever. She also has a horrible cough. Last night I remembered the vick's vapor rub trick and slathered it on her feet and put thick socks on. I think she might have coughed once. It really works!! Jack is with her today so hopefully she feels better for him.

I unfortunately had to work this week, but only until 3:00 today. Monday I decided to go back to the weight lifting class I had been doing the year prior to surgery. It's amazing how much muscle you lose in such a short time (maybe 3 months). My back felt fine--I was only using 5 pound weights and I abstained from the jumping jacks and moves like that. I could hardly walk for a day after that because I was so sore, but it is a good feeling. I'm going back on Friday morning.

Working out makes me think of New Year's Resolutions, although I'm not putting "working out" on my list because that is a given and everyone should do that anyway. I love making lists, I guess that's the organizer in me. So I guess that brings me to my list of goals for 2009. I'll first start of with a quote I found in a motivational quote book I got for Christmas.

"Always be a first rate version of yourself, instead of a second rate version of somebody else"

-Judy Garland

That is the preface of 2009--being an original person. I'm tired of imitations and people trying to "out do" each other with what they have, etc. I can not say I was never that person because everyone wants stuff they can't have/can't afford!! With the economy the way it is, I'm happy both Jack and I have good jobs and Addison is at a wonderful daycare part time. So here's my list:

1. Learn how to knit

2. Quit drinking pop (that does not include Red Bull or Monster!). And as I sit here writing this, I'm drinking my last Coke Zero

3. Be a better listener. If only Jack read my blog--he would say this should be at the top because he says I'm a horrible listener. And I am--I only hear maybe half of what he says!

4. Learn how to really use my camera. I'm lucky enough to have an awesome camera, I should really learn how to use the "artistic" side of it!

5. Find a Lutheran church similar to the one I grew up in. I tried Catholic, and it's just not the same!! I would like to baptize Addison.

6. Spend more quality time with Addison and take her to fun places on days off and weekends (Cinti Museum Center, Zoo, Aquarium, etc)

7. Budget to drop my hours from 40 to 35 at work (I'd work 7-2 M-F or 6:30-1:30). The timeframe for that is May 1.

8. And with less hours, I can cook dinner every night (healthy)

9. Find a "style" that works for me-hair and clothes. I feel I'm mismatched! I need a personal shopper! LOL! A lot of my clothes are from years ago (college) and I need something new for 2009--and not an imitation of somebody else!

So there are my 9 goals for 2009. I guess I should print that and put it in a visible place!

We will be spending time as a family tonight, I'm so excited! Hope I can stay up until midnight! We wish everyone happiness and health in 2009!!

Whew! Glad that's over!

I can't believe I haven't posted anything in almost a week! Sorry! I'm so happy Christmas is over and this week we'll get through New Year's and everything will be back to "normal," whatever normal is. I said I would post my Lego carwash/Shell station and hospital I built last weekend, so here they are....

Christmas sure was a whirlwind of activity. It all started with my nice drive home from work on Tuesday. I was off work on Wednesday, so I was excited to get home and start cleaning and getting ready for Christmas Eve. I ran to Walmart on my lunch hour that day to get last minute things. I picked up Addison at daycare at 4pm, and right before I left work my friend said her husband called and told her the roads were solid ice. I quickly left, and he wasn't kidding. It was kinda ok getting Addison, but after that it was all downhill from there, no pun intended! The road I normally take to get home was closed-car in ditch and a tow truck was pulling it out. I turned around and got on SR 32 East towards the mall and I was going to go 275 instead of the hilly backroads I usually take. I sat on 32 for an hour (4:15-5:15). I'm so glad I went to the store at lunch because I had juice, cheese, and crackers in the car. We had that for dinner. Finally realizing 32 was closed, I decided to take the first exit and try yet another way home. Well, that was not a good idea. The exit was downhill and curved to the right, so my car slid sideways off the side of the exit into the grass. By this time (5:45) Addison was screaming for her paci and I couldn't find it. I called my boss to get someone's phone number that lived nearby because I was just going to drive to his house. I ended up being stuck off of the exit until 7:15 pm. Addison did fall asleep at 6, which was good (and I did have a flashlight and found her paci). A salt truck finally came down the exit about 6:45, but he was coming too fast and did a 180 and came down backwards and almost hit me. It took about 30 min for the ice to melt so that I could try and get back on the road. During this time, Jack's dear friend Mike, was on his way to get Addison and I. Anyway, I was finally able to drive down the exit and get back on 32. 32 and 275 were ok. I got off at the Milford exit about 7:30 and it was at a standstill. I took a backroad to SR 131 and that was also at a standstill. I decided I had to stay there since it was the only way home. During all of this my cell phone died. I'm probably the only person that doesn't own a car charger! I also didn't have my winter coat on and was in high heels! I am in the process of making an emergency car kit! Deerfield Road was the worst-almost as bad as the exit ramp. There were cars scattered in ditches all the way home--more SUVs and trucks than cars actually. I seriously drove 5 mph on Deerfield. I saw ambulances and firetrucks with these really cool spinning chains on their tires for traction. I need some of those! I finally pulled in my garage at 8:45, which is 4 hours and 45 minutes after I left work!! Of course Addison woke up right when we pulled in and was up for hours after that....

Christmas Eve was fun--the Wessel's came over and I made lasagna. Addison and I attempted to make a Paula Dean peppermint cake, but it was a flop and ended up in the trash. I'm sure I did something wrong. Addison got so many fun things including a vintage Radio Flyer fire truck, see below...

On Christmas Day we woke up and drove to Centerville for a brunch at my parent's house. My sister and Tony along with the Langers were all there. Addison again got more gifts than she knew what to do with!

After Addison's nap, we drove up to north Dayton to the Siebenthaler's for another round of gifts and dinner. Jackie had her mother's diamond rings made into necklaces for all the girls, including Addison. They are the most gorgeous necklaces and some of the diamonds are from the 1800s. What a special gift! I don't have pictures from that evening because I left my camera at my parent's house.

Friday morning we left for French Lick. Angie and Tony met us at our house and we all drove together. We stopped by cousin Kirstie's house to see her girls before we went to the hotel. Here are some fun pictures of that afternoon...(the first one is Addison in some of her new clothes before we left).

Friday night Jack, Tony, and Angie went back to the casino to lose money. I was so exhausted from the previous 2 days and the drive I stayed back and went to sleep with Addison at 7:30! The next day aunt Bobbie had a Christmas party at her house with all of the Deremiah's. Didn't really take a lot of pictures there except for my cousin Chad's cute little boy-Henry.

We got home about 7 on Saturday night and went straight to bed. Today Addison played catch up and took at 3 1/2 hour nap! My aunt Julie (aka JuJu) watched Zippy Angel for us while we went to Indiana and Addison and I picked her up tonight. Addison is staying the night at Pa'ma and Papaw's house tonight. She has a full day planned tomorrow! Back to work for me tomorrow--I enjoy routine!

Gingerbread House

As I said in a previous post, Christmas always sneaks up on me!! Of course I had to work today and am freaking out about preparing for Christmas Eve dinner, cleaning the house, packing for French Lick, and still gift shopping. And did I already say I HATE shopping. Well, I like shopping for house stuff, but not clothes or gifts!! Anyway, I would have loved to do so much more for this year's Christmas. We never go to the Festival of Lights at the zoo--everytime we had planned to go it was either snowing, raining, or 5 degrees. And as I type this post, my weather bug on my computer is flashing 5 degrees. And that is not the windchill of something below zero. It was bitter cold this morning. Thank goodness Addison didn't have to go to daycare, although she does have her 18 month check up this morning that Jack will take her too. Back to Christmas-I didn't bake cookies or decorate like I wanted to. But I guess that comes with working full time and having a very energetic 18 month old. Yesterday I picked Jack up at Mike's house after he was helping him work on his truck and we went and bought two gift cards for family. The traffic was just horrible (we had to go to Loveland and Fields Ertel). I'm just glad Jack was with me because he could drop me off and I ran in and got the goods. It worked out well. And then I have today's and tomorrow's lunch hour to also do last minute shopping.

This weekend was really fun. Saturday afternoon I got my old Legos out for Addison. I know they are kinda small, but she knew exactly what to do with them. We built the car wash/Shell station and a couple of cars. I have pictures I will post later....

Sunday we built the hospital. I'm missing some pieces, but you'll get the idea. I couldn't build the ambulance because it was also missing too many pieces. I'm going to try and get some odds and ends pieces from craigslist or ebay. I remember what a fun hobby building legos is--and probably the reason why I began college as interior design/architecture student. And please don't ask why I didn't get my degree in that...I made some really bad decisions during my college years....

Addison went to the Wessel's on Saturday night to sleep over. Jack and I went on a date to Los Cabos for dinner. We had never been there before and really liked it. After that, we went to the Batavia HS basketball game. Jack's teacher friend is the assistant coach. His wife also went and took their two kids. They have a little girl Addison's age. I can't believe how late their kids stayed up! Addison was asleep before the game even started. While Addison was over at the Wessel's she built a gingerbread house.

How cute!! I have two nativities that Addison loves. She feeds the animals and carries baby Jesus around. I wrapped her gifts yesterday and put them under the tree...she tried to open them. They are wrapped in Pooh paper so of course she loved them! Well, I better get off to work....Jack is on Christmas break. Next year I plan to take these two weeks off to spend with Addison and Jack, as well as Spring Break. Maybe we can go somewhere warm!

A Message From Zippy

I have never laughed so hard at my friend, Audrey's blog! I was (or actually Zippy Angel was) tagged to have Zippy post an entry. So I will give it over to the ruler of the Wessel home-Miss Zippy Angel.

Hello everyone! My friend Frank in Alabama would like me to write a couple of things about myself. I don't know if I can keep it at a couple because I am so important and I could go on and on about myself! See my picture posted below from yesterday's post...

Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share 6 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag 6 random people by linking to their blog at the end of this post.
5. Let each random person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here goes...

1. I am very loyal to my family and friends even though I chose to run away about once a month. More in the summer of course because it's not so darn cold! My favorite places to go are to the trailer park down the road where they feed me hot dogs and tie me to their deck with a leather belt. It can't get any better than that!

2. Sometimes I can get a little crazy, like the time I was riding in the car while it was pouring down rain outside. I accidentally put my paw on the window roller button and closed my eyes and JUMPED! Right out into the middle of Deerfield Road! Thank goodness there were not any cars coming! I just got a couple of bruises and cuts and was quite scared to get into a car for awhile after that!

3. I am obsessed with my sister Addison--she feeds me to no end. I'm surprised my figure is not bigger than it is. I'm still only 16 pounds! When mom gets home she feeds me boring old dog food, but during dinner Addison give me whatever she is eating (and A LOT of it!) Sometimes when no one is looking I jump up onto the counter and eat what is leftover up there (yes-I can jump that high I'm a Jack Russel!)

4. I love to be in my cage. That is my home, however Addison seems to like to share it with me from time to time. I don't get mad because its nice from time to time to have visitors. I used to sleep with mom and dad, but then I got my own bed and I love it!

5. I have two medical conditions-I have cherry eye which is a buildup of tissue in the corner of my eye (like a tonsil in your throat) and I have to have it removed sometime in January or February. Not looking forward to it. And if anyone looks up "cherry eye" online, make sure you are not eating because its really gross! I also have hip and knee problems which cause me to "hop" while I'm running. Mom and dad thought it was funny at first, but the vet told them it was a serious condition. OH and I also have very bad breath--Aunt Angie calls me TUNA!

6. I am thankful that I was rescued from the Amelia Library by one of mom's friends at work. Someone that just couldn't take my crazy personality just left me there! How rude! And I'm not really "crazy," as some may think Jack Russels can be--I'm just interesting. Most of the time I'm laid back--curled up in someone's lap or in my bed.

As I said, I could go on and on, but I'll let another one of my friends steal the spotlight. I would love to hear about Roxie, Scooter, Sadie, and Rocky, but mom's friends won't create blogs! Hint, hint!

I can't think of of 6 friends whose moms have blogs so here are two:

My cousin Gracie of Aunt Angie's blog and my friends Miles and Maggie of Tender Loving Lair
Have fun!

It's too early for terrible two's!!!

I'm going to have to thank Jack for passing down his crazy gene to Addison. He was a climber and an explorer. Not that that is a bad thing in later years, its really tough right now! Just to give you a background, when Jack was two he climbed up the brick of his fireplace and was found sitting on the mantle. Soon after this feat he was found in the front yard taking the concrete top of of the septic tank/well. As I blogged away on Wednesday, Addison was crawling up on the kitchen table, example below...

Oh and she doesn't have pants on because she felt like dumping her ENTIRE bowl of chili in her lap (after she gave half of it to the kitchen floor and Zippy Angel). And we had a couple of chocolate chips for dessert so that is what's all over her face! :)

And at the stove...

6 out of 7 nights I try and cook something well-rounded. Tonight though, Addison wouldn't eat what I made because she had a Christmas party at school and was sent home with a Santa basket full of junk food. She wanted to eat it all. I made noodles with our chicken tetrazinni (which she wouldn't eat together), so here she is eating the noodles directly from the colander (along with the smorgasbord of other stuff she "had" to have). Jack couldn't believe I was taking a picture of it!

I can't believe Christmas snuck up on me again. Every year I tell myself I'm going to be ready for it and before I know it its the last shopping weekend! I have gotten a couple things, but nothing is wrapped. It will be gift cards from here on out! Tomorrow is Jack's last day of school before Christmas break. I'm off on Christmas Eve through the weekend. We will be traveling to French Lick on the 26th to spend with the Deremiah's and we are excited because it will be Tony's first trip there! We plan to spend Friday night at the casino while mom and dad watch Addison. This time I'll bring my camera!

And then some randoms...I tried to keep a snowman theme for our Christmas decorations. Here is a snowman pillow from my childhood!

And you can't forget Zippy Angel and her ball!