I hate shells

I am perpetually late every where I go and have gotten worse since having Maison. I just can't seem to get her out of the house in time to get her to school and me to my parents (where I work while Maison is in school) in time for my first conference call of the day. It's not rare for me to be presenting to dozens of people from all over the world while I'm driving through school zones and listening to Maison watch The Smurfs on the car DVD player. As much as I like to think of myself as a major multi-tasker, this is even a bit much for me.

So I figured I would try some little things to speed up the morning routine such as preparing some of the breakfast items the night before. I thought making boiled eggs where all I had to do was remove the shells and the yolks (no one eats the baby chicken...right?) would eliminate the scrambling, the skillet cleaning, etc. What is up with the shells on boiled eggs? I follow my mother's explicit instructions. I do the ice bath. I do everything as told but my shells come off in little tiny bits and my eggs look like they were ridden with severe teenage acne that left horrible pitty scars.

By the time there is something on Maison's Dora plate I could have scrambled and cleaned for a family of four. I'm sorry but any meal that takes longer to remove from it's packaging than to eat is just not worth my time. Boiled eggs are like King crab legs, a whole lot of work for not much meat.

Parka Pleased

In November I bought Maison a new winter coat from Land's End. She's only worn it a few times because we've only had a handful of days where it's been cold enough for a parka rated for -10 degrees. I picked Maison up from school the other day and she had something white and fluffy all in her hair. Then I noticed there were white feathers all over the classroom. I had no clue what they could have been doing other than a pillow fight that would have resulted in mass amounts of white feathers.

Then Ms. Heather brought me Maison's things, including her coat, and she proceeded to tell me she had no idea what happened other than Maison's coat ripped and the entire class became covered in goose down feathers = AWESOME.

On Monday, I fired off a not so nice email to Land's End explaining that I expected more for a parka rated for -10 degrees. If it couldn't take a handful of wearings in a Texas winter how on earth would it work in the conditions advertised? I got no response to my email and was really peeved until yesterday when the postman rang the door bell and handed me a large package.

I hadn't ordered anything, at least not that I remembered, so had no idea what it was. Then I saw it was from Land's End. I told Maison that the package was for her and she said, "Maison got a present?" which is hilarious because that is exactly what I say when things I order online arrive. As soon as I open the boxes I tell Mais, "Mommy got a present." She kept it in it's sealed bag all afternoon so she could hug it and tell me repeatedly that she had gotten a present. She is SO my child!

Thank you Land's End for making things right!

So Sick of Santa

After seeing "Santa" last week in Target, Maison has been in full Santa mode. She has pulled out the Twas the Night Before Christmas book that my mom gave her that is a recording of my mom reading the book. I have heard it upwards of 1000 times and it's only Thursday. Maison leaves it open in the playroom and when I turn the lights on at 6:00 in the morning, I am greeted by my mom's voice reciting, "...I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter...". Each day I'm startled as if it's a ghost talking to me until it dawns on me Maison was on the 'Santa thing' again last night.

I have contemplated hiding the book a bazillion times this week but figured there was no point after Maison demanded to sleep in her Santa pajamas from Christmas Eve. If this keeps up, it's going to be a VERY LONG year until next Christmas. I never thought in all my life I would say this but, I AM SO SICK OF SANTA!!!

A Grand Entry, Indeed!

Last night we spent our evening at the Fort Worth Rodeo. Just in case you're wondering, no I have not turned into a rodeo queen despite the fact I HAVE been known to wear Justin ropers, Wranglers, and a Resistol cowboy hat (really, are any other brand worth wearing? I mean George Strait wouldn't endorse just any brands with that gorgeous face and nice booty!). So why after 30+ years in Dallas would I make the trek to Ft. Worth to go to the rodeo when I have never been before? To see my brother ride in the Grand Entry, of course!

My brother is a member of the Ft. Worth Stock Show Syndicate (FWSSS) which is a group of 100 distinguished business men from Ft. Worth who according to their website are "the largest single financial supporters of the Ft. Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. They do this by buying all the animals exhibited by all the youth exhibitors." The grand purse is the biggest in the business and is typically $100,000 for the grand champion.

So how does a distinguished businessman from DALLAS get into an organization limited to only 100 men from Ft. Worth? By raising an obscene amount of money, that buys a lot of youth livestock, which sends a lot of youth to college. Money still talks and big money to buy livestock talks a lot...this is Texas, after all! In fact, being one of the largest donors, buys you the honor to ride in the Grand Entry of one of the biggest and oldest rodeos in the world.

Me and Mini-me, Dinner at Reata:

Hats off to Uncle Bubba:

Waiting on the Grand Entry to begin:

Is that Uncle Bubba?:

Here they come! (my brother is on the last horse in this pic):

High Five from Uncle Bubba:

A honor well deserved:

Rodeo Queens:

See y'all at the Rodeo!

The OCD Apple

For the last several months Maison throws a fit if things are on her fingers or on her clothes. She shouts out, "On the finger!" if she has food on her fingers and will not continue eating until her hands or clean. If she drops something on her shirt she'll yell, "On the shirt! On the shirt!" until it is wiped off. I really started to appreciate Maison's OCD trait when after dinner the other night she pointed to crumbs on the table and then looked at Adam and said, "Clean this up." I've been wanting to say that for years!

But then today I heard a major meltdown coming from the playroom while I was on a conference call and my mom was watching Mais. Apparently Maison was extremely unhappy that she had fuzz from the playroom rug on her pants. In her defense, the playroom rugs shed worse than the 3 cats we had collectively and she had on fleece pants so they pick up everything. When she realized her pants were covered in piles of red fuzz she told Nooey, "I need a shower." Noo was a little perplexed as to why Maison needed a shower and upon asking her for an explanation she received mass hysteria regarding said shower. When Noo finally calmed her down Maison looked at Noo and said, "Ok, how about a bath?" Yes, the OCD apple doesn't fall too far from the tree!

40 degrees and 10 minutes

Too Hot to Handle, Too Cold to Hold. Yes, it's a saying but it's also two very popular 15k races in Dallas at White Rock Lake. The Too Hot to Handle is held in mid-July and is usually close to 95 at the beginning of the race and 100 degrees at the finish. Too Cold to Hold is in late January and could be freezing or 80. You never know....

But after competing in the "cold" version I now know:

1. 55 degrees (today's race starting temp) is about the best racing temperature there is especially when compared to 95 degrees.

2. 15 mph winds when running around a lake in 55 degrees feels like someone shoved ice in your sports bra

3. Water stops are optional and misters don't exist

4. If you drink too much water you have to whiz out your ear as urine doesn't evaporate in 55 degrees as it does in 95+

5. I run exactly 10 minutes faster in 55 degree weather than I do in 95, setting a PR on this course of 1:27.

Just after crossing the finish line:

Mais loves hydration systems as much as Mommy:

Looks like to me I should do a little more cold holding rather than hot handling but due to signing up for the runproject.org (7 races over 2012) I've already signed up for the Too Hot to Handle...and I'm already praying for low 90s...

Santa lives in Plano, Texas

We were just in the children's clothing section of Target and Maison said, "Santa Claus, Santa Claus!" She was with Adam so I glanced over to see what they were doing. Maison was in Adam's arms pointing at a man with white hair and beard and glasses. This poor man totally played along. He said, "I hope you are being a good little girl and doing everything your mommy and daddy tell you". This only egged Maison on. She proceeded to have an entire "conversation" with him. Adam was as red as Santa Claus's suit from embarrassment as he tried to walk away with Mais. She was now screaming at the top of her lungs as they walked away..."SAAAANNNTTTA CLAAAUUUSS!"

I watched this entire scene go down but I saved myself from the embarrassment. As soon as I saw it involved a real person, I politely steered my cart in the other direction and watched from afar.

Normally I would be...

A few years ago if it was 80 degrees at 3:00 on a Friday afternoon in late January I would be contemplating the major decision of what patio was I going to go sit my happy butt on and drink profusely. Followed closely by the decision of whether or not I should sneak out of my office via the service elevator or the back staircase and whether or not I'd be luckily enough that someone would be heading out at the exact same time and whether or not they'd hold the door open for me so I wouldn't get caught having to swipe my badge to exit.

But since having Maison, if we happen to have gorgeous weather on a Friday afternoon we head straight to Camp Gooey...and since I work at home I don't have to plot my sneaky exit. I just leave. The biggest decision of our afternoon is whether or not Maison wants to drive her convertible or four-wheeler. Now if I could just get G'Daddy to turn his upstairs patio into a bar (kidding...ok partially kidding).

A Hot Hustle

Adam, Mais, and I headed out at 7:45 this morning in the 35 degree weather so that I could run in the Hotcake Hustle 10k in Addison. I felt warm and snugly in my winter running gear as I was lining up. At mile 2 I had already shed my gloves and ear warmers and was majorly rethinking my decision to wear 3 layers on top. I decided to tough it out since it was only a 6 mile race I didn't want to waste time losing a layer or two. Then at mile 3 I saw my parents cheering me on and realized I was at the 5k point a lot sooner than I thought I would be. The race was 5k and 10k combined so the 10k-ers had to run the entire course twice. I think I was thrown off my pace because the 5k runners were going so much faster. I ended up running a 9:05 pace the first 5k which is A LOT faster than I normally run. When I got in the car after the race, the temperature was 42. I was TOTALLY over dressed for low 40s but I guess it didn't deter me too much. I finished at 57:25 and placed 14th in my age group...the highest place finish I've had running since I placed 1st in my age group in the Plano Balloon Chase in 2000. Yes, it took me 12 years to crawl back into the top 15.

Of course there are pictures of my big finish but it seems someone (hheehheeemm) left the infared setting on the camera while they may or may not been taking pictures of christmas decorations so the best one looks like this:

Not sure if I'm even in that shot but it looks like a top 15 finish to me!

The 12th day is here

The 12th day of Christmas is here which unfortunately means it's time to take down the Christmas decorations. As I started to take the ornaments off the Santa tree Maison started redecorating it. In her defense, she is my child. Then she started shouting, "Mommy, Christmas tree is broken." Yes, my dear, it is. It just looks sad and lonely when it's not covered in beautiful twinkling lights and sparkly goodness. It's VERY DIFFICULT to explain to a 2 year old not to worry, we will put the trees up again next year.

So just for Maison, pictures of some of the Christmas 2011 decorations she can look at anytime:

The silver tree or as Maison called it "Mommy's tree". She said "night, night Angel" when she went to bed each night.

The Santa Tree (aka Maison's tree):

The mantle:

The Holly:

The pictures don't include the Hello Kitty tree in Maison's play room, the tree in our bedroom, or the outside decorations. Shh, don't tell my mom but I had already started taking down the other 2 trees when I took these pictures. My mother thinks it's a sacrilege to touch the decorations until after the 12th day and I couldn't agree more. With a toddler on my heels, it took me weeks to get it all put out, so I figured it would take me weeks to get it all put away and thought I'd get a little bit of a head start this year. Don't worry Noo, we're "burning" the outside lights tonight. Happy 12th Day of Christmas, Y'all!

Convertible Cruisin

What could you possibly do on a gorgeous 77 degree day in January?

Think I'll take a ride in my convertible...

Or maybe play a little ball with G'Daddy...

The Good and The Bad ~ 2011 Recap

Here's how we spent 2011:

January:

The Good ~ We had beautiful weather in the mid-70s.

The Bad ~ I had repeat gum surgery with lots of complications and our poor little Einstein died from liver failure.

February:

The Good ~ We had a record breaking FOUR consecutive snow days and a record breaking 5 snow days in the month of Feb.

The Bad ~ Adam was in a three car pile up on his way to work.

March:

The Good ~ Adam completed his first tri at the St. Patrick's day tri in Keller.

The Bad ~ We traveled to Moab so that I could run in the Canyonland Half Marathon with Kari and Jan. It was some of the worst conditions I have ever competed in with 27 mph flying dirt.

April:

The Good ~ I competed in the Caveman Triathlon in Flower Mound for the second year.

May:

The Good ~ A picture of Maison and me was nominated for Best Picture of 2011.

The Bad ~ Maison had a stomach virus, 102 degree fever, and croup all at the same time.

June:

The Good ~ Gulf Shores Vacay

July:

The Good ~ I ran the Too Hot Too Handle 15k, 17 min faster than last year.

I went to the Britney Spears concert with Jan, Kelly, Adrienne, and Shari.

The Bad ~ The Expedition glass exploded due the back gate malfunctioning and Adam was in a four car pile up in his truck just 3 days later.

August:

The Good ~ The people who bought our house in record time backed out.

The Bad ~ My mom had an extremely bad infection that landed her in the ER and I sprained my ankle playing soccer for the umptenth time.

September:

The Good ~ Adam and I celebrated our 4th anniversary.

October:

The Good ~ Maison started school and turned 2.

November:

The Good ~ Team Boo raised $2450 for the prevention of Alzheimer's.

The Bad ~ Maison was given a clean bill of health on Nov. 3 only to have a c-diff relapse on Nov. 28.

December:

The Good ~ We went to Atlanta to celebrate my Annie Boo's 90th b-day.

Christmas and Hanukkah overlap for the first time since Maison was born = Holiday Overload

The Bad ~ Maison had surgery to remove her adenoids and put in ear tubes to ward off future c-diff infections.

I ran my second half marathon in Dallas in the worst conditions I have ever competed in: 38 degrees with pouring rain.

Looking at this list we certainly had our fair share of 'bad' last year. Here's hoping that 2012 will be bring our sweet bug good health and Adam no more car wrecks. I didn't realize he had 3 last year...and he says I'm the bad driver!!!