i paid $1.58 for gas last friday... heaven!!!

happy new years eve, everyone! i personally can't wait until midnight when i truly believe i will start a year with fewer difficulties. based on my theory on bad luck and awful events.
i hope everyone had a great christmas holiday. i had my usual after the holiday car problem. i'm fairly certain i'm going to make box cry when i tell him what happened...
i received all five harry potter books in hard cover which now completes my bookshelf and the whole i had on it while i was holding out for them. i also got these really cute little corn on the cob molds for making cornbread in. they're extra special to me because my step-mom remembered me pointing them out in a catalog three months ago!
speaking of my step-mom, she broke down and got my brothers and one of my sisters a dog on sunday. it's a yorkipoo. way too cute. it's the size of my foot. we named it winston. my dad (jeff) says that with a name like that he's sure we're going to end up with a gay puppy that wears ribbons in its hair and goes by "winnie." in all actuality... it wouldn't surprise me...

get the mother hen to leave the coop

merry christmas, everyone!
oh, my. today was quite the day! i was at my grandma's with my mom's side of the family.this is the side of the family where i get all my card playing skills. they could not for the life of them wrap their minds around the fruitbasket game! there was smacking and yelling and one of my sisters ended up crawling under the daybed and not coming out for an hour! never again, never again... my grandma made spaghetti today. after eating her sauce i always feel like what i make doesn't even deserve to go by the same name! so good...
tonight i drove up to bloomington to spend some time with the other half of my family. i get to see my tucker tomorrow! yeah! so, i told my dad (jeff) that if what nelly and tim mcgraw did was considered country, then to sign me up! i knew it would drive him nuts being a true country fan. he then told me that he just got a creed cd cause they were his favorite band. i laughed at him, assuming he was lying. he wasn't. he just spent the last half-hour in the kitchen dancing and singing along to the cd, forcing anyone who came in to dance too. and he was listening to one song on repeat. i now know that i come by it honestly. :)

"an undigested bit of cheese" (what christmas movie am i from?)

merry christmas, my beloved's! safe travels, wise decisions, and edifying times all around!

what a miserable experience THAT turned out to be!

my favorite comedian is jeremy hotz. he's from canada. here's his thoughts on canadians: "what wimps... we are. We just don't want to pick a fight. We should just attack another country. We should just attack Turkey. Come on, we could take em. No one would see it coming. We just show up one day and say, `We're taking it and we're calling it Chicken.' "

if i'da bet on old stewball, i'd be a rich man today!

monday night matt and i were driving back separately from cr after having finished some christmas shopping. he left the store about ten minutes before i did and called me on my way out to tell me to be very careful on the roads as it had just snowed and he had just been hit by a semi. very long story (life from ten pm to three am in a nut shell) short: matt is suffering from a concussion, and a cracked vertebrae in his back. his car is totaled. feel free to pray for him as he is in a fair amount of pain. thanks!
last night was pretty funny. tom, matt, box, and i went and saw meet the fockers. it was what you would expect, i think. either way. on the drive home, tom left to go to work and i had matt with me so we could stop to fill his prescription. we pull into the walgreens parking lot to discover he doesn't have the prescription paper thingy with his so we go to pull out again and i realize box is right behind me. as i change lanes going down first ave. he matches my every movement. we thought this was pretty funny so at melrose i pulled a right hand turn out of the center lane and box followed me! we then returned to the highway, swung back down to the mall and then back to the house with my shadow still intact! box says he was on the phone, but i now realize that i am just the supreme lemmings queen who must be careful to use her powers for good and to not lead her people astray (read: off a cliff).

tim biang won't read my blog cause there are no caps...

so one of my friends is going to be in a wedding for some mutual friends next month. when i asked him what the tuxes were going to look like he informed me that he didn't know and wasn't that concerned because based on who the bride was he trusted her taste. hmmm. so i asked her tonight what style they were going to be and she said they were going to be your run of the mill tuxes. but then she told me, in all seriousness, that she had considered pink vests but had decided against it after remembering what guys she was dealing with. for the sake of being argumentative, i really wish she would have done it. :)
i got slammed with three very emotional situations in the last 48 hours. i hate it when these things just slam you up against the wall. positively hate it...

turkey chili and chocolate mousse

i swear there was a conspiracy last night to see how little sleep i could get. i received a phone call at one a.m. that lasted five minutes and then another one at three that lasted til five. and i had to get up to take amber to work at nine. i'm really not dragging all that much, amazingly. tonight's going to be an adventure if anyone feels like praying for my safety (not physical) that would be appreciated.
i almost made amber choke she was laughing at me so hard last night. i can be kind of amusing after midnight, i guess...

random kissing vs. kissing randoms (long story)

this morning, after regaining much missed garage space, amanda and i tackled shelving my books. i own a lot more that i remembered, and unfortunately, my precious books are not all present and accounted for. sigh... where are you, my babies? we began the alphabetizing process. way more complex then one might realize. the abdo boys are about to get slammed with more quality literature than they will know what to do with!
amber and i are having a slumber party as soon as she gets done mopping the java house. we're going to watch love and basketball. i love that movie. :)
my favorite animals are buffalo and moose. and i love dragonflys.

update: my spell check has just alerted me to the fact that "dragonflys" is not a real word. they recommend that i replace it with "treasonable." thank you, oh great spell checker.

note to the oc: no, no, no!!!

"hello, i love you, won't you tell me your name?" isn't it weird (i love mittens!) the random song lyrics that come to mind when staring at a blank screen trying to remember what you wanted to write?
tomorrow is the end of another era: erik returns to ames. i seem to live through a new era approx. every two months, i'd say. although it would seem that every week there is a stone tossed in the water that ripples out to touch and disrupt the current era. dumb rocks... either way, so long, erik! happy hitting of the books again!
getting gifts is fun. giving gifts is "funner." going to the mall sucks. i spent an hour there tonight before church and walked out empty handed for all my effort. by effort i mean parking a mile away and then walking around the mall talking on my phone so the guys at the booths don't try to sell me stuff that i don't need and then walking back to my car in said mile away spot. speaking of gifts: guy, feel free to send my birthday present to the following address: po box 5696 coralville, ia 52241. thanks. :)
michael says he doesn't think i could create a bomb that would fit under a postage stamp (he thinks i lack the skill), but, out of all his friends, he does think i'm the one with the best connections to get one made. i'm taking this as my new claim to fame. i think. thanks.
goodnight, one. goodnight, all. my goal is to find someone to babysit for on new years eve so i don't get stuck spending it with tom. i need to one-up spending last years with bravo..

baby got back... bacon!

i did respite tonight. the five year old refuses to poop unless he is naked so it's always a huge production. it seems to take forever to convince him to put his clothes back on when he's done. he would rather have this long conversation before re-dressing. quite a show. tonight was more interesting than usual given the fact that he refuses to respond to any name other than luke skywalker. here's a snippet of our conversation:
me: aidan, please put your clothes back on.
aidan: wait, i'm talking.
me: fine, at least put your underwear on.
aidan: no. not until you call me luke. remember?
me: sorry. please put your underwear on, luke.
aidan: luke skywalker.
me: please put your underwear on, luke skywalker.
aidan: okay.
oh, the joys of conversing with the youth of our nation. :)

i got a sweet neon light "bar" sign for Chrismukah from tom. it's pretty sweet. and an awesome punching bag from box. apparently, i'm now expected to cut back on the frequency with which i hit him and his roommates. i think it depends on whether or not they cut back on deserving it. :) i also got two sweet pug calendars. jeff and box and i sat around making titles for the pictures for a bit last night. we're pretty inspired, i must say.

question: do pyramids have pillars?
answer: shut up.

open season

just so everyone knows... if you have something you feel you need to reprove me about, this is the week to do it. i've gotten enough in the last twenty-four hours that i have decided that as long as my heart is ready, i want it all at once. i've been told that some people are too intimidated to reprove me though i need it. let me reassure you: i vow to bite off no heads this week. deal? :)
how many people think that the "j"in "jboxer" should stand for jebediah? i do. so does tom. that makes a majority in my mind.

jboxer

yesterday was quite the day. you know how when you are trying really hard not to just completely loose it all, dumb stuff keeps happening that is truly amazing? such as: i got hit by a car at the oakbrook mall! some dumb chicago driver just up and slammed his side mirror into my arm! i wasn't walking anywhere i shouldn't at all, he was driving too fast and not paying attention. talk about unnerving! sigh. praise the Lord, he didn't hit more of me!
oceans 12 is one of the funniest movies that i've seen in a long time. so funny. the funniness just keeps coming. you'll love it!
after two and a half years of trying to get the live album with the song "where fishes go" on it and always forgetting to grab it, i finally remembered to pick it up yesterday. yeah!
i got the csi board game and the seether cd for hanukkah yesterday. sweet! oh, yes. and i am getting quality toilet paper for christmas from lisa. way sweet. :)

the attack of cookie monster

today i made cookies with tom. the first run through of said cookies came out burnt. i was not amused. tom was in charge of mixing together the dough for the peanut butter blossom cookies. instead he made regular peanut butter cookies and refused to put the shortening in and failed to inform me of this either. he thinks shortening should be omitted from all cookie recipe's as a frivolous ingredient. this resulted in my cookies being too firm to push the hershey's kisses into. i ended up shoving the chocolates in point first, thus giving the effect of looking at the top of a bald jews head when they are wearing yarmulkes. way cute.
todays song:
Okay...This is a song that uhh..
There’s a lot of christmas songs out there and uhh..
Not too many chanukah songs.
So uhh..I wrote a song for all those nice little jewish kids who don’t get to hear any chanukah songs.
Here we go...
Put on your yarmulkeHere comes chanukahSo much funukahTo celebrate chanukah
Chanukah is the festival of lights
Instead of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights
When you feel like the only kid in town without a christmas tree
Here’s a list of people who are jewish just like you and me
David lee roth lights the menorah
So do james caan, kirk douglas, and the late dinah shore-ah
Guess who eats together at the carnegie deli
Bowser from sha na na and arthur fonzerelli
Paul newman’s half jewish, goldie hawn’s half too
Put them together, what a fine lookin’ jew
You don’t need deck the halls or jingle bell rock
’cause you can spin a dreidel with captain kirk and mr. spock- both jewish
Put on your yarmulkeIt’s time for chanukah
The owner of the seattle supersonicahs Celebrates chanukah
O.j. simpson, not a jew
But guess who is? hall of famer rod carew- he converted
We got ann landers and her sister dear abby
Harrison ford’s a quarter jewish- not too shabby
Some people think that ebenezer scrooge is
Well he’s not, but guess who is
All three stooges
So many jews are in showbiz
Tom cruise isn’t, but I heard his agent is
Tell your friend veronica
It’s time to celebrate chanukahI hope
I get a harmonicah
Oh this lovely, lovely chanukah
So drink your gin and tonicah
And smoke your marijuanikah
If you really, really wannakah
Have a happy, happy, happy, happy chanukahHappy chanukah

fennel thief

i am now a homeowner. whew. that's over. now i just need roommates!
merry chrismukkah one and all! what a happy season it is! all i know is that it has thus far landed me the prisoner of azkaban. nuff said. :)
amanda and i now own matching outdoor/indoor footwear (read: rubber soled, lambs wool/suede slippers). sweet. i love giving gifts! it's so much fun shopping for people. what to get, what to get! i love the fact that this year i get to go christmas shopping for my nephew. i wish you all knew how much i enjoy being an aunt. :) i'm fairly certain that he will be saying my name by the end of the month.
i think i'm getting a dog next month. one of the families that i sit for has decided to buy me one for christmas. i have fallen in love with pugs and pug mixes. my favorite thus far would have to be the puggle. it's a beagle pug combo. way too cute!
today every time i would prevent myron from doing something "fun", ie. dangerous, stupid, illfated, he would hit me and yell "no, no!" i sure hope this phase ends real soon...
continuing on my theme that people are not shown the depth of appreciation that i have for them on a consistent basis (and what good does it do to take happy feelings to the grave with you), here are todays shout outs: box-cause when is box not doing wonderful things for the world? lisa weaver- for putting me up and putting up with me every time i go back to chicago. narmin- for being a royal pain in the a**and making me smile despite it. :)

finally

today is the day! it's closing day, everyone! I hope it all goes smoothly, that I don't feel so sick, and that I will be as calm, cool, and collected as I think I will be just to prove Tom wrong. :)
todays shout outs go to: thank you box for changing my oil! Happy birthday, Erik!