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A visit with Santa

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We went to the craft show again this year…and had cookies and crafts with Santa. Friends of ours were there so they did candy cane crafts together (that’s Keegan next to Owen, his younger brother Garrett and younger sister Shiela on either side of Katie).

Owen was okay with seeing Santa and talking to him…but he did NOT want to sit on his lap.

Katie was fine with Santa.

They were taking pictures, too…but none turned out that great.

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The only picture where Owen was looking our way.

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Katie: Mom, Owen answered the bonus question!
Me: Bonus question? What was it?
Owen: Santa asked what daddy wanted for Christmas.
Me: What did you tell him?
Owen: For Michigan State to be better!

Crazy Cart Katie with Daddy

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Every time we go to the grocery store she asks to ride in the car cart. It’s a big ol’ pain in the ass because it’s so big and awkward so I always say no. But daddy was with us today and he’s a big ol’ pushover. So they played while I shopped. You could hear them halfway across the store, I swear, with as loud as the cart is and her screeching like crazy!

I got a red dress, y’all.

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So about a month or so ago, I queried my Facebook friends to see if my favorite red ball gown could be altered…and pretty much everyone said no way, just buy a new dress, there’s no way to easily alter a size 24 into a 10/12. Fine. So I went shopping at David’s Bridal and crossed my fingers as I looked through the Clearance rack.

So they only had three dresses in my size(s): a red size 10, an identical black size 12, and a different style navy size 12. I was sure the 10 wouldn’t fit so started with the black one. It fit well enough but I felt there was enough wiggle room that I should at least TRY the size 10 (plus it was the only red one so why not?). And amazingly it fit…but it was literally 1/2″ too small across the back and was quite tight so I was sad. So I had to decide if I wanted the black dress (I’d never had a black dress!) or keep looking for a red one… Black is classic, but red is what I wanted.

They looked at other stores and told me the next closest store had the dress in red in a 12…GRRR. So I did what I do when I have a clothes question…I talked to my clothes buddy, Sheryl. She convinced me I should go get the red dress. So I went while Katie was at school. 🙂

They had a 10 so I tried it on again, just in case. And it was still tight, but they got it zipped fine. I was thinking I could actually live with it…until I noticed that the chest/back tightness made my armpit/boob fat squinch weird so I would have to get the 12. But, then I decided that since I was there and had the time I wanted to try on some VA VA VOOM dresses just to see what there was and if anything worked.

This red dress was not a winner.

This one was tempting, but I didn’t love it enough for the $229 price tag.

So I did end up getting the red dress…which I will post when we go to the ball! (Of course, after the fact I showed Tom both dresses and he said he liked the black one better. GRRRR!)

Marcia spoiled me with a few birthday presents!

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First we had lunch at the Neiman Marcus Cafe with her two daughters and the two employees who helped with the Facebook event. I actually introduced them all to the delicious wonder that is Green Goddess salad dressing (it came on two dishes and no one had ever tried it so I asked the waiter to bring a sample; they all loved it) and they let me in on the secret that the little cup the waiter brought was not tea, but chicken stock. Sounds odd, right? But it was DELICIOUS. 🙂 At dessert time we hoped for something chocolate and surprisingly they didn’t have anything! But! The waiter said “Let me see what I can do” and he came back with a huge slice of chocolate cake! (Turns out he got it from another NM cafe on another level.) Then the table sang Happy Birthday to me. 🙂

Then it was off shopping at the mall. I had complimented her daughter Candace on her gorgeous necklace and she said she actually got it at Chicos…so we headed there (I usually get something “big” as a souvenir instead of a tchotchke). So I was looking at all the jewelry and Marcia and her daughter were looking at clothes. I was trying to decide between pieces to just pick one and Marcia offered to hold them for me while I was looking…and I turned around and she was buying all three for me!

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What?! I told you she’s awesome.

Then we walked around some more and we ended up at Sundance where Candace tried on a bunch of clothes. The stuff was way too expensive for me, but I tried on a few things for fun (I mean, that’s what you do when you’re out shopping with the girls, right?!). And then they both tried on this coat—which I had noticed and thought was cute but figured there was no way I would be buying it so why tempt myself—but peer pressure got me and I tried it on and it was SUPER cute…and Marcia immediately said “Excellent! I’ll get this for you, too! Happy birthday!” WHAT?! Holy crap. I told her she couldn’t but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. So I now own this coat. And, actually, all three of us now own that coat!! 🙂

And then it was off to get all our nails done…another birthday treat! I opted for a basic French manicure. I forgot how much I LOVE them…

And then it was off to dinner at Gloria’s Latin Cuisine with Marcia, her daughter, and another coworker/friend! It was delicious, and I enjoyed a strawberry margarita and fish and brisket tacos for my birthday!

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On the way home, Marcia said (paraphrasing) “I was going to get you dessert and have them sing happy birthday, but they get crazy with it so I changed my mind.” See? LOVE HER.

So, we had a potato penis in the house…

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So I have loved this drawing of Katie’s potato people ever since she did it way back in February for Gramma Jean.

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And I had thought a few times about turning it into a necklace but never did it. Until this month. So I Photoshopped the extra potato person out, changed it to black, and ended up with this:

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And I looked at the drawing and saw that one ear wasn’t attached…so made sure to ask the artist about attaching the ear (she said yes, of course). But I didn’t look any farther than that. So when I got the necklace today I was excited. I took a picture of my new treasure.

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Katie was excited at the surprise. And then I really looked at it. REALLY LOOKED AT IT.

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What the hell? Why is that line there? She didn’t have a line on her potato person. I dug through my photo files to find it and ahhhh. A belly button. Which, when attached, had to have a line somewhere, right? So it laughingly got turned into a penis! 😯 😆 (Don’t tell me my mind is in the gutter—what did YOU think when you saw it? :p ) I wondered if the artist noticed or thought about it, or just assumed I was a wacky person and wanted to wear a potato penis on my neck. 🙂

So I asked Tom if he could snip it off and file it down (otherwise I’d have to go back to the Etsy artist with my tale of stupidity and hope she’d take pity on me) and he had it done within five minutes. (Gotta love a handy hubby with the right tools!)

So then I came up with this graphic to share. 🙂

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But overall the necklace is wonderful and I’d totally order from SilverHandwriting again! I’d just double- and triple-check all the parts of the drawing!

It’s time for new glasses.

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It’s been two years since I’ve had an exam and I’m on my last pair of contacts so it was time. (I’m supposed to go annually but I made my contacts last extra long to save money.)

So I was trying to be cost-conscious and asked if they could use my old frames and they can but it would still be over $200! What? Yuck. So I asked about a clearance section and picked out the best [of the worst] from the very limited $199 selection. Can you pick the same ones I did? (Highlight the rest of this sentence to see which one: I picked #1.)

I picked # 1.

Then I looked around and of course found a regular-priced frame I liked a lot better. Gah.

This is me trying out different hairstyles to see how they looked to try and make my decision. I liked that they were plastic frames (versus metal) and that they had blue on them. And they just FELT right.

So, so much for being cost-conscious—after the military discount, the glasses were about $450. And I still have to buy the contacts. Now you see why I try to make them last longer than a year. (And yes, I could have just gotten new lenses for my old frames at that price point, but they’ve been stepped on and aren’t in the best condition. But had he price been right, I would have.)

But on a good note? My eyes have gotten slightly better. 🙂

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