At Fifteen Below Zero, Even The Dog Wears A Hat

Jacket: $12.99

Hat: $4.99
Shaming my dog for my own enjoyment: Priceless.

For god's sake, please get this off me.

I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay. . .

I'm an auntie

Julia Rae

Since I am Minnesotan, it will be pronounced, "ANT-ie." No Southern drawing out of the first two syllables here, people.

Her name is Julia Rae. She is a tiny little 8 pound, 10 ounce bundle of cuteness you simply want to squeeze too hard and talk to in a high pitched voice. She is the only baby I have seen smile on the day she was born. Radiantly. Constantly. She is a peach of a girl. I think she looks like her dad.

"Ketchup"*

I have written a few blog posts in my head over the past week or so, but somehow they never ended up published here. I guess I need to work on my mental prowess.

So, let's bullet point this baby, shall we?

ON WORK

• I finally finished my training, thank all applicable deities. I can hang out Monday, Wednesday and Saturday nights. Sunday is wide open, also the day we usually like to crash and wear pajamas as much as possible.
  
• Two of my clients last week had their spouses die recently. It was creepy and made me want to hug Stan immediately.
• I have also had many good client stories to tell. Stan thinks I should write a book. I'm taking the suggestion seriously.
• My wrists and shoulders hurt like a son of a bitch. I need to work lighter.
  

ON LIFE

• We bought a new Honda Fit Sport. I suspect it is made out of candy, it is soooo sweet.

Yes, it is blue. The red and white stripes are on order.

• I finally started working out again! Hooray!!!
• It looks like we are hosting an Eller family gathering here on Sunday. The secret fact that our house smells like dog pee is going to be out. Oops, guess I blew it already.

ON THE BOY

• Noah has been very emotional and sentimental of late. He never, ever wants to turn 6. We read his baby book at least once a day.
  
• His favorite number is 138. He wants to do everything 138 times. He wants 138 of everything. Although he never wants to grow old (see above) he vehemently claims he is 138 years old.
• He likes to be called "Lord Noah" and calls me "Daisy Mom" when we play upper class fancy people. This usually occurs during bath time for some strange reason.
• He likes to use the word "pizzaz" as in, "Mom, that bed time story had no pizzaz."
  

That, in brief, should catch you up to date on my life. Today I have the day off and have so far slept, showered, watched TV and blogged. Now it is time to get pretty and get some cleaning done. I've got a lot of carpet shampooing to do!

*If you read this and automatically thought of the punch line from Pulp Fiction, you are the cooliest.

I drew the line at getting on all fours with no undies.

Because I do have some pride, although I know sometimes, you people wonder.

The estheticians in training were having a horrible time doing Brazilian waxing. Our illustrious teacher came to the rescue, but needed a model. Guess who was stupid, I mean, brave enough to volunteer?

That's right. I got myself a free waxing and all I had to do was let four ladies stare at my va-jay-jay for 15 minutes.

I guess since Stan grew a beard I felt I could lose my lady one, but it feels a little, I don't know, unprotected down there. I lost all the insulation. I will probably keep it to a bikini from now on, but at least I can say I tried it.

Oh, yeah, I was going to write about the pain. It was about as painful as my first bikini wax, except for the main triangle of hair on top. That hurt like HELL.

And the result is . . .

NEGATIVE!

Throwing up two mornings in a row convinced me I was preggers. Turns out it was just a weird case of PMS, or a two day allergy to coffee.

Although if Noah does have a sibling one day, he decided on names already:

"Pinky" for a girl and "Spider Man" for a boy. Good names, both of them.

2007 A Summary

What a year. It probably won't live in infamy, but meh, whatever, a lot happened to the Keathly family. Here are some highlights:

• Nemy and I flew to Hawaii to spend a sister's week with Renee.
• Renee and I got matching turtle tattoos.
• Jesse moved out - for the last time?
• Noah had his last year at ECFE in April. It ended with a program where Noah said he would be grown up at age 30 and wanted to be a builder of robots and sleep on the top bunk.
• Noah played summer T-ball.
• Stan and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. It's good, no it's great, to be Mrs. Keathly.
  
• Noah started all day kindergarten in September. Yes, I cried, but not in front of him.
• After 5 years of spotty employment, I have a full time job again.
• I had my first ride in an ambulance and it only cost $600!
• Noah got glasses. Looking back, we realize that he probably needed them at least 2 years ago.

In 2008 we hope to:

• Buy a new car - Honda Fit?
• Start going to the gym regularly.
• Visit Ken & Ingrid's family in Olympia, WA.
• Pay at least 50% of our debt off.
• Spend a lot of quality time together and with those we love.

Personally, I resolve to:

• Work out at the gym regularly.
• Read more on the elliptical than soaking in the tub.
• Organize and purge clutter from the house.
• Walk Dodi every day.
• Get to bed at a decent time.

I have a good feeling about this year.