mandaloo

the following is a run-down of the christmas weekend activities. hang on to your seat:

FRIDAY: absolutely nobody was at work on friday, so i left early (but i was planning on doing this anyways). spent most of the day with wizard and his family. i finished up the last of my christmas shopping (yes – i’m aware that i claimed to have been done with this earlier, but i was wrong). after a special trip to irving, the rest of the day consisted of us watching tv, eating dinner, and going to the batting cages. it rocked my face.

SATURDAY: woke up and basically spent most of the day relaxing, despite my parents’ rather extensive “to-do” list that was discussed first thing in the morning. i did manage to get my room dusted and my files organized, though. super cool. evening came and the family and i went to look at christmas lights, which was followed by us watching a christmas movie. we opened gifts, and i was totally pleased with all of the cool stuff i got. among the goodies were: a nice pair of earrings, crazy socks, penguin pajamas, smelly-good stuff, makeup, and money. i have to say that the highlight of the evening for me was watching my mom open up her brighton purse i got for her. she was tickled pink, which was exactly the response i was shooting for. the day’s activities concluded and i put on my pajamas when our doorbell rang and we were greeted by the gardner family from church. they had come carrolling and it was awesome to hear them sing (they all are super talented).

SUNDAY: we all woke up and hung out until it was time to go to church. after church, we came home, spent time together, and enjoyed a christmas dinner of barbeque. we usually do the traditional holiday meal, but we thought we would shake things up this year – and i have to say it turned out great. mmm… barbeque. in the evening, i headed over to wiz’s house and exchanged gifts with his family. wiz’s family got me tons of great stuff… a chili’s gift card, a stuffed cow (which is now my car mascot), an entire set of smell-good stuff accompanied by an awesome box, a wal mart gift card, and a whole set of cow kitchen stuff (towels, oven mitt, etc.) for when i move out. wiz gave me a super huge stuffed cow with a bed bath and beyond gift card tied to it. it all rocked my face. as if the barbeque was not enough, i still managed to inhale the awesome enchilada dinner that susan made. i read disney stories to ethan and kaitlyn, and we all played yahtzee afterwards (which i so got crushed at – even the kids beat me!).

MONDAY: my good friend don, from high school, came into town to visit me for the day. after a great trip to ihop for breakfast, we headed off to six flags. i must have missed the memo that “holiday in the park” means “half-of-our-rides-are-closed.” but that was okay – we just doubled up on the rides that were available. i had that weird ice cream stuff that are in the pellet form and then melt in your mouth. and i think it’s just wrong. lol. after six flags, we went and watched king kong. i was somewhat disappointed by the film, but that’s fine. it was great to hang out and reconnect with a dear friend. needless to say – i was exhausted at the end of the day.

***Below are some pics from the weekend….***

Dad enjoying the yummy yummy rolls along with barbeque…

Alan and Bacon (this was her first Christmas)…

me with my super cool earrings mom got me…

kaitlyn and ethan at the christmas tree – just prior to gift opening craziness at wizard’s house…

gift opening mayhem…

wizard and i enjoying the holiday…

susan busting some tunes on the guitar…

just got home from a crazy day of productivity (shopping, church christmas party, more shopping), so what better time to report the random crap and observations for this week?  here we go…

1.  i’ve been smiling so much the last couple of weeks that my neck has actually been having these spasm things, i’m convinced.  i’ll be laughing or something and the side neck muscle thing will jut out, leaving me in agony.  but my face just looks like i have a frozen laugh.  so, despite the pain, those around me just think i’m haivng a good time.  i’ve had like three of these in the past week, so i’m thinking of making a flashcard that says, “i’m having a neck spasm” so people can stop making me laugh more during these little occurances.

2.  going out for dinner with a friend that is supposed to be studying for finals with other friends that have nothing else to do is great fun.  we legitimately talked about the civil war for all of fifteen seconds.  all the rest of the night was laughs (and i think i had a neck spasm that night – see item one).

3.  dads are funny creatures.  mine and i had a huge blow up this week that left me in tears and frustrated and comitted to the idea of moving out in a month or so.  but then – for the first time in years – my dad wanted to go shopping with me today.  so for five hours, we shopped and had a good time.  i was convinced that he was going to carry on conversation about undesirable topics in public so that i wouldn’t get emotional.  but no – it was no venue for any thing of the sort.  just good times.  i’m taking it as a way of acknowledging some hurtful things said and moving on.  i love my daddy.  and yes – i’m still committed to moving out in the next month or so.

4.  my grandma bought bacon this HUGE bed this week (44″ x 54″).  it seriously takes up half of the floor in my room.  baconloves it and thinks it’s the best thing in the world.  it kinda fluffs up around her when she lays on it, so it’s super cute.  i actually bought bacon these special christmas cookie things tonight with frosting and stuff made just for dogs.  what a spoiled dog…

5.  uno (yes, the card game) brings out the beasts in people.  watch your limbs when playing with me and my crowd.  enough said.

6.  a meal that is called “chicken chunks” is way better tasting than what the name sounds.  tender little bits of chicken stacked in a basket makes my face happy.

7.  i have learned that i talk like a technical report when i’m nervous and/or have just met someone new.  this was made apparent to me last weekend, but experiences throughout the week have confirmed it.

8.  my christmas shopping is done… almost.  so that rocks.  i still need to wrap everything, but that’s the fun part.  i can’t wait until i get to see everyone open up their stuff.  it’s my favorite part of the holidays b/c i try so hard to get thoughtful gifts.  i can’t believe christmas is just about a week away…

9.  i have learned more through the silence of another this week then i could have ever thought.  anticipating responses have (for the first time in my experience) shifted up into already knowing and in fact, already seeing.  knowing that nothing will change is a blessing and a curse.

10.  i think my bedroom is the coldest room in the house.  i’m constantly freezing… really.  i love cold, but come on now -

11.  security guards in golf carts that think they’re policemen are annoying things to deal with.  i about died this week when a guard person or whatever at lockheed was trying to understand why the truck-mounted drilling rig couldn’t be removed from the truck we brought in.  (sigh)  at least it served as some entertainment that day when i hit my 12th hour of work.

12.  i redyed my hair red b/c my roots were getting a little out of control.  every single time i do this, everyone thinks its a different color all together.  it’s not – really.  but i just play along until it fades and the cycle is repeated.  within the life cycle of a dying, it pretty much is every shade of red.  i’m a transient being.

13.  upon seeing the cell phone (that can take over small countries and pretty much effectively run them, in my opinion) of my friend mike, i have realized that i need to get with it and replace my cell phone in the near future.  please remind me of this vow in the near future so that i don’t have phone insecurity issues again.

so this weekend was probably one of the most fun and enjoyable weekends i’ve had in … forever. it was action-packed and full of adventure, i tell ya…on friday, i met pam for dinner at olive garden. one of the servers looked familiar. pam found out that she knew some people the server knew, so that was good. all were relieved when an answer was found to the “hey-you-look-familiar-do-i-know-you” game. we ate so much food (or at least i did) and even had dessert (pam’s treat). i would seriously take an arm off for black tie mousse cake. it’s just that good. but fortunately, all appendages stayed attached in this particular mousse cake incident. tragedy struck when we took off in the car and discovered that we had forgotten our leftovers. we went shopping thereafter, which rocked. while shopping, pam found yet another person that looked familiar and the “hey-you-look-familiar-do-i-know-you” game continued. i think the guy went to her same school. i am now under the impression that pam knows everyone in fort worth. we met up with jeromy and maurice at the movies after the shopping extravaganza and watched the chronicles of narnia. i enjoyed it and thought it was super duper.

on saturday, the craziness continued to ensue when dad, jeromy, daniel (a coworker), and i went to the gun range. i haven’t fired a gun since i was a wee one, so it was all new again. i had a blast, though. i did the best with the rifle stuff (and please note that the term “best” is not all that impressive, but merely used for comparison’s sake). my mantra for the day: targets that don’t move are an upgrade. dad and jeromy tore up the skeets, though. it was crazy. they were hitting them every which way. i tried, but i’m sure that it was like watching a train wreck. i’m not so good, but should continue to improve after future visits. kaboom! after that, i went to jeromy’s sister’s house and watched the boys hang christmas lights. the evening was wrapped up with a dinner at on the border and i was going to bed a happy camper.

sunday started out with church. i then went back over to jeromy’s sister’s house for their family ornament exchange. their family sure likes ornaments and really gets into it. even the children weren’t safe – there were no qualm’s about taking some little kiddo’s ornament they so happily chose. i think someone used the phrase of “teaching them about life” in the mix of it all. it was hilarious. i think my neck spasmed from smiling and laughing so much. really. again, we watched the boys hang christmas lights (they had not finished the night before). sunday evening, jeromy and i headed over to the church to watch pam sing in the stake christmas music concert thing. it was really nice and i’m continually impressed by people with any shred of musical talent (because i got skipped for that particular gift). so i enjoy good christmas music when i can get it. however – next year – i think that all fussy children should be given a tranquilizer dart before coming. maybe i’ll start a suggestion box.

all in all – a great weekend. i’m still tickled from all of the excitement. this time of year has totally been a picker- upper for me. it is a great time to reconnect with people that you care about and take a little time to enjoy some of life’s simpler pleasures. *cue cheesy music* getting back to basics kind of, you know? i’ve been totally blessed this year in so many ways and i’m continually in awe by the quality of people that i’m surrounded by. christmas is just about two weeks away and i’m livin’ it up…

so it was antartica outside today… or at least antartica to us spoiled texans.  all it takes is an ice cube outside and everything closes down.  but that was just fine by me.  after a 12-hour workday yesterday, leaving at noon today seemed like a great idea.  took a cozy afternoon nap and now i’m as refreshed as can be… just bored out of my mind.

poor bacon went through the doggie door the wrong way today and she’s been all limpy-legged since.  she won’t stay off of it and she’s totally making it worse.  i’ve been keeping her all relaxed this evening.  dumb dog – but i love her so.

my coworker and i took it upon ourselves to decorate our office for christmas last night.  we put garland on people’s chairs and bells above my boss’ office.  it rocked.  i still need to find where i put my veggietales nativity set.  whoever determined that making a cucumber a wise man and a tomato a shepard was a good idea was a genius.

in order to kill some time, i’m filling out the following survey i stole from someone else’s blog.  moo ha ha ha!  enjoy… or maybe not.  but that’s fine.

1. First thing you did this morning?: checked my phone.  i had four text messages i had received while i was sleeping.

2. Last thing you ate?: minestrone soup – grandma made it and it was wonderful

3. Is your cell phone a piece of crap?: affirmative.  plan to upgrade next year.

4. What’s the thing you look forward to most in the next six months?: buying a laptop and moving out.  maybe re-learning how to play guitar b/c i miss it more than i thought i would.
5. What’s annoying you right now?: a pickle

6. What’s the last movie you saw in a theater?: harry potter (goblet of fire) – it rocked my face

7. Do you believe in long distance relationships?: depends.  i’ve never had a good experience with them, but that doesn’t mean they can’t work.

8. What’s worse?
a) getting hurt
b) people not being real with you
c) not getting everything you try so hard for

C

9. Is there someone you miss?: definitely

10. What inspires you?: good people and genetics

11. If you could put together a concert of 5 bands or artists, who would you choose?: rachael yamagata, almost august (love you nina), green day, weezer, and radiohead

12. Song that sums up your love life currently?:  come a little closer by dierks bentley

13. What’s one thing you wish you were better at doing?: better coordination – man, am i clumsy

14. If you could be anywhere this second, where would it be?: anywhere with a good friend(s) – if chips and salsa are included, that’s a definite upgrade

15. What’s your most vivid memory from 6th grade?: the gifted english class (called C.A.T.S.) – man, it was crazy.  we had a blast.

16. Latest addiction?: stealing caps from wizards

17. Have you ever had the slight urge to kill someone?:  no

18. How many people would you say are interested in you?: huh?

19. What do you love doing?: everything.  really – i love my family, love my job, love my friends… love it all.

20. Do you think someone thinks about you daily?: i have been told as much recently.

21. Who was the last person you saw or talked to?: saw:  mom at dinner.  talked to:  jeromy via phone.

22. What do you want to be when you grow up?:  a person of good character… a great wife and mom.

23. What is your favorite food?: tuna noodle casserole.  totally rocks my socks.

24. How many people do you know with the same name as you?: hmm.. i’ve known two mandy’s in the past

25. What was the last thing you spilled?: i don’t remember – but my chip missed my mouth when i was eating the other night.  very crazy.