25 Random Things About Me!

I know that it has been a while! But I have been having a challenging month! Anyway, I have a few new Isabelle stories, but those are going to have to wait until I get a chance to breathe. I got tagged on Facebook the other day and had to post 25 random facts about me. I know that some of my faithful blog readers aren't on Facebook, so I thought I would post it on this as well. For those of you on Facebook, this is the exact same list.

1. I have been with my husband since I was 18 and still remember the exact date I fell in love with him (November 11, 2002). While it hasn’t always been a bed of roses, I’m so grateful that we stuck it out.

2. My marriage is one of complete opposites. We don’t have similar backgrounds, we don’t agree politically and we have completely different parenting methods. But for some reason it seems to work for us and I wouldn’t have it another way.

3. I’m lucky if I see my husband for 1 week a month. This time he has been on the job for 4 weeks with no end in sight!

4. I consider being a mom my most important (and difficult!) job but it is becoming easier for me to relate to people who have been pushed to the brink of insanity by their children. Last night when Izzy counted all the way to 24 by herself, I knew that I wouldn’t change my life for anything. This morning when she was screaming while undressing herself as fast as I was getting her dressed, I had second thoughts…

5. My favorite thing at Dairy Queen is the chocolate covered waffle bowls. I have some favorite DQ memories but I won't use this forum to go into them!

6. Hollywood celebrity types + elected government officials = propaganda. I wouldn’t trust most of these celebrities to dog sit for me but yet I’m constantly subjected to their beliefs on mainstream media.

7. I would totally be a surrogate mother for a couple that couldn’t have children!

8. I complain frequently about my petccessory (Gordy, my Chihuahua) but the night he was missing, I was the one up until 2am crying.

9. My mother can be my witness that I’m a huge grudge holder and can still remember things that date back to middle school that I’m disgruntled about.

10. That being said, the only person on this planet who I consider unredeemable and unforgivable is my brother-in-laws baby mama who I recently discovered brought drugs into my home.

11. I’m a self proclaimed news junkie and high speed internet has made my problem way more prevalent. I swear that msnbc.com is giving me an ulcer.

12. I love boy bands. I can’t decide whether I’m more excited about having met John Paul II or the one time I met all three members of Hanson!

13. I am a textbook Pisces, meaning that I can be compassionate and devoted but I am also too sensitive and lacking in self-discipline. But my husband is a Cancer, which makes us a perfect fit for each other and our signs are often paired in ideal marriages.

14. I’ve worked for the same company since I was 16. I used to say it was the only job I’ve ever wanted but this last year has shown me that I need to make a change.

15. I’m addicted to Dr. Pepper and TV. We have over 60 season passes that record regularly on our DVR. I have to admit that I cried during the series finale of Gilmore Girls.

16. I’m 15 episodes away from completely rewatching all 10 seasons of Beverly Hills, 90210. It has taken me 6 months.

17. I’m usually in bed by 8:30 pm.

18. I’m 4 months pregnant with my last child (unless the first two don’t like me, then I might have one more when I’m 40). But I’m getting rid of all my baby stuff after this one regardless.

19. I wear sandals year round, no matter the weather.

20. I love living in Idaho so much that I never want to leave. I knew that I finally converted Chase to my ways when I heard him say the same thing to someone on the phone.

21. My biggest dream is take my husband back to Italy with me.

22. All I want for my birthday is to go to Disneyland.

23. I consider my husband my hero. He is only 25 and has conquered demons that some people battle their entire lives.

24. I consider my mom my best friend after Chase. I tell Isabelle she is my best friend but that is more of a ploy for some kind of cooperation.

25. The biggest loss in my life has been my Grandfather. I’m still plagued by guilt over thing I could have done better. Some nights when I can’t sleep, I get in his old shirt and cry in the chair that he gave me.

The Kid Loves Elmo

I'm going to call it the curse of the blog. Whenever I type something on this site about how good Izzy is, she ruins it. As soon as I wrote about what a good sleeper she is, she completely threw that out the window. Every night is a struggle to get her into bed and an even bigger struggle to get her up in the morning. I have been letting her sleep with me for the past few nights and last night I hit my breaking point when I woke up (around 10pm!) and she was under the cover at my feet pulling the dog's tail. So back to her bed she went. At 1:51 am, she brought her pillow and her blankie and crawled back into bed with me. I was too tired to fight with her and she fell right asleep so I gave up. But this morning, I woke her up, gave her her clothes and got in the shower. She is loving dressing herself as of this moment but this is how I found her this morning when I got out of the shower. She went and got her Elmos and fell back asleep. Cody can be my witness that when I woke her up, it wasn't pretty!

Uncle Al's Last Supper

My brother has been home for the last month and will be returning to school today. We took him out to Fanatics last night for dinner and we had a lot of fun. Izzy, as per usual, was the center of attention. I don't think that kid is going to be able to function with a sibling. She's used to being the light of everyone's eyes, including surrounding patrons and the waitstaff. It's going to be an adjustment for her. She has this really disgusting habit of sucking off condiments from her food. She loves sauce (all kinds!) so much that she doesn't want to waste any room actually putting food in her stomach. This leads to quadruple dipping into sauces that should be community property. As you can guess, most people stop dipping once they watch her eat. She lathers up on the sauce and then slowly sucks it off. I have seen her use the same fry for a whole container of fry sauce. Her Dad gets mad at her and makes her bite for every dip. But when he's not around, she usually reverts back to her old behavior. Last night, she was going crazy over marinara with her cheese stick. It was like a train wreck and no one at the table could look away. Needless to say, the rest of us ate without using the marinara because it started to look watered down with spit after a few dips. But other than that,we had fun. Izzy spent most of the meal sitting under the table. She was being quiet so that was a plus. The National Championship games was on and every time the crowd reacted to something, she would poke her head out to see what was going on. When she was a small baby, she would often get confused over public displays such as clapping and laughing. She would always smile and wave as if they were cheering for her and I think last night was a little flashback for her. She also had another break through when she finally figured out ordering at a restaurant. As soon as the waitress came to get our drink orders, she said, "Mac and cheese please!" She wasn't going to wait for anyone else. It was very sweet. My life would be so boring without my little baby. I can't even imagine.

Our Little Monkey

We are the proud adopted parents of a new baby. A new monkey baby that is. I'm anticipating this one will be easier than a real baby. It better be! Or I will have to unadopt it. It's funny that my aunt would pick this paticular animal to adopt in our name because it is Izzy's favorite display at the zoo. The monkeys have so much energy and the are so much fun to watch. They had little baby monkeys last year that made my child look easy to take care of. These things were crashing into the glass and putting on a real show for us mortals. But next time you are at the Tautphaus Park Zoo, look for our name on the plaque next to the penguin display with all the other adoptive parents that are busy supporting our important community centerpiece. I should also mention that we got a zoo pass for the next year, so Isabelle and I will be spending alot of time getting to know our new family member. Thanks Aunt Cyndy!

Micki & Jade please!

Doubling the number of occupants in your house is overwhelming for anyone. Cody's baby mama (her name is Brittany, I just think that baby mama is funny to say) came to stay at our house with her two kids for 11 days. Izzy fought with Brooklyn the entire time. I know that my kid can be spoiled but the fact of the matter is that she was just not used to so much commotion and competitiveness in her house. By day 8, she came to be crying because the girls got into another fight and she said, "I want Micki and Jade." Even her little two year old mind could process the fact that things are easier when we visit with them than the situation we were living in. I was at the end of my rope, not that there weren't fun moments with the kids, but it was too much for too long. At one point, Isabelle and Brooklyn got stuck behind the couch, which I thought made a great cage. They thew themselves over it and got stuck in the corner, which makes it their problem, not mine. I refused to rescue them until they agreed to calm down, so Braxton stepped in for me. Thankfully, he couldn't lift either one of them. There is also a seperate issue that is up for debate. Brooklyn's hair got cut and she started closely resembling Joe Dirt with the mullet look. She kept claiming that Izzy did it and Brittany told everyone that. It can't be true! During the alleged incident, Izzy was asleep in her bed. And I told everyone this. I fought it to the bitter end but the day after they left, I found a piece of Isabelle's hair that had been cut. Her hair is much thicker than Brooklyn's and so it was hidden better. So maybe Izzy did it. But I'm not telling anyone because there is no way that it could be proved either way! Everyone has returned to where they belong and I can get my life back to normal (if that's possible).

Merry Tristmas!

Isabelle had so much fun on Christmas morning that she keeps wanting to relive it. Now every morning, she runs into my room and says "Merry Tristmas." Whenever I get her to talk on the phone, instead of saying hello she says "Merry Tristmas." It's really cute, but of course, any Mom would probably say that about their kid. I finally got my tree down but I still have to take care of everything else. I'm just running out of room to store everything because I seem to collect more every single year. We went over to my parents house and when Izzy saw that they were taking down their tree, she almost had a heart attack. She would follow behind my dad and put up the ornaments that he had just taken down. When he finally got the lights off, she started putting the garland back on tree. When he finally hauled it out the door, she stood at the entry way crying out "Goodbye Tristmas Tree, Goodbye." If she had her way, we would celebrate Christmas everyday! My sister-in-law was telling me that out of everything that her parents own her brother, sister and herself are most concerned about who gets her mom's Christmas decor because its the most symbolic thing left of their childhood. When I started thinking about it, that makes so much sense! When I was helping put away the ornaments from the tree so many memories are associated with everything. I always wanted to have a perfectly matched Christmas tree, which is what I have now, but there is something to be said for having a hodgepodge of ornaments that have meaning. Everything I allow on my tree was specifically bought to match everything else and last year I wouldn't let my nephew hang up his proudly homemade stuff (I'm feeling bad now kindof). When I was little, our tree topper was the little blue bird who my Dad nicknamed the Blue Bird of Happiness. I always thought that other houses with angels and stars were so neat because we had this pathetic little bird on top of our tree. I have no idea where this bird came from but we have used it as a tree topper ever since I can remember. And the Blue Bird of Happiness made an appearance this year. To keep up with the tradition of me being difficult, I asked when we are going to retire him but I really don't want him to go anywhere. He symbolizes Christmas at the Thomas house. As an FYI to my sister, I already claimed all of Mom's Precious Moment ornaments so you'll have to think of something else. And I'm not kidding!

Good Riddance!

2008 was a crappy year for me. I shouldn't complain because my family is healthy and so forth (plus I don't want to curse 2009) but I really could have skipped the entire year and been much happier. Starting back in January when I lost my job and a pregnancy on the same day (January 15th). While I was lucky to get an eleventh hour transfer to a different department, a lot of my identity was wrapped up in what I did for a living. A year later I can't really say that I have gotten over it. Don't get my wrong, my new job allows me to be based out of Idaho Falls and only travel to Pocatello one day a week instead of five, but I don't feel any passion over what I do anymore. In fact, most days I have to drag myself into the office. My grandpa died back in October which I still find devasting and it still brings me to tears at least once a day. In May, my sister abandoned me for South Dakota and I don't think it has hit me yet. I think I keep assuming she's on some kind of hellish vacation that is going to end soon. I spent the last day of 2008 so sick that I could barely get out of bed yet I had a house full of guests with kids running everywhere. As I write this, I keep telling myself that I need to put some positive things down. My husbands job is still dependable. My baby is like a little sponge who is growing and learning so fast that sometimes it take my breath away. But I can hope for a little more out of 09 right?