Mini Vacation

I gotta say, this has been the best week! Monday I got off work at 3:00. I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a few after Christmas things and a few groceries and then relaxed at home all night.

Yesterday I got off at 1:00! My friend Jenny wanted hours and so she asked if I wanted to leave. She also said she'd do that on Thursday so we could leave for Iowa earlier.

Jacob and I turned the rest of the day into a date. We went to Springfield and did a little shopping. He was looking for a cable to hook from our router to the BluRay so we can get Netflix. Well they were anywhere between  $30 and $50. We checked on my Amazon and now we're getting one for around $12 with shipping! The only bummer was we have to wait for it, but to me it made way more sense to wait and pay so much less for it. We also went to Target and checked out their Christmas stuff.

Then we did an early supper at Olive Garden and used one of our giftcards. It had  been almost 2 months since we ate there. Gasp. It was SO good. All I could think of all day were those bread sticks.

We also had 2 free movie passes so we went to see Little Fockers. I'm glad we saw it for free. It had some funny and cute moments, but to me it just didn't live up to my expectations. The first 2 are just plain hilarious. This one didn't have the laugh factor for me. It was fun to see though.

We came home and prepared for the Insight Bowl. And by prepared I mean, Jacob turned on the TV and made queso and I had to debate on which Iowa hoodie to wear. I needed one that had some good "mojo". I showered before the game so I could sleep in today because I knew I'd be up late. The game didn't start until 9:00.  It was an intense game and at one point I was fairly certain that I was watching the game slip away from us, but we pulled it out and WON!!!! In your face Missouri! I finally got to bed at about 12:30.

Went into work today fully expecting to have to work a full day, but I got off at 1:00 again and I'm off until Monday!!! Hooray!

Texas Bowl and Illinois/Iowa basketball tonight and then headed to Iowa tomorrow for Christmas!!

Merry Christmas To All, and To All A Good Night

I can't believe that another Christmas has passed by. Technically it isn't over for us yet, since we'll be celebrating in Iowa this coming weekend, but it always goes by so quickly. I actually like getting to spread it out over a couple of weeks!

Thursday afternoon when I got off work we left for Villa Grove and got there just after 5:00. Brenda made Poor Man's soup for supper and it was tasty! We watched Despicable Me, which was really cute! Then we watched Charlie Brown and The Grinch (the cartoon version). Although, I had chugged some NyQuil before we started Charlie Brown and it took effect pretty quickly so I only saw bits and pieces of those movies.

Friday morning Jacob, Kent and I went out shopping. Kent always does his Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. We just tagged along to help out! It was actually a lot of fun, and the stores we went to really weren't too bad. We had lunch at Hickory River Smokehouse. First time I've eaten there, and oh man...watch out Famous Dave's, you have competition!

We headed back to the house for an afternoon of movies and wrapping. Kent started a fire and then it started snowing! It was seriously the perfect Christmas Eve. Normally I despise snow (as we all know), but it's different at Christmas time. It was beautiful.

That afternoon we watched The Nativity Story (first time I watched the whole thing and it was amazing), Alastair Sim Christmas Carol (Kent's favorite) and of course National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. That one has been a Christmas Eve tradition for years.

It's also Christmas Eve tradition at the Elam's to have a "junk food dinner"! It's pretty much appetizers...chips and dip, wings, BBQ meatballs, etc. Gotta love it!

After that we headed to the Christmas Eve Service at church. It was a very nice service too. Then it was back to the house and off to bed to await Santa's arrival.

Christmas morning we slept in and Jacob and I watched part of A Christmas Story before getting up. A family friend came to visit for a bit. I talked to mom and dad for a bit while he was there. Usually we have brunch...but we ate it closer to noon! I LOVE those cinnamon rolls.

After that it was present time!

A few gifts:

30 Rock for Jacob

A puzzle for Kent

Sarah Palin's new book for Brenda

Bath and Body Works for me!

And a surprise gift! We got a Bluray player!!! (Plus Toy Story 3...our first Bluray)

All of the gifts were wonderful and it was fun getting to spend time with family. One of Jacob's grandma's came over for Christmas dinner that evening and then we watched Toy Story 3 that night.

Yesterday we went to church, had lunch ( a VERY yummy pot roast) and headed home around 2:30. Wish the weekend didn't end so quickly, but I'm looking forward to being Iowa bound on Thursday!

Cookie, Cookie, Cookie Starts With C

I am SO ready for Christmas to be here. This week is going slow again, but I think it's only because I'm ready for a long weekend and the excitement of Christmas!

I got some of my pictures to upload that I wanted to share the other night, and have a couple more that I wanted to share from today.

It's a Christmas miracle folks! My hubby got the urge to bake today. I'm not sure he's ever done that before, but he decided to make his mom's sugar cookies from scratch. They turned out very tasty! Of course, he doesn't like frosting (I know. Right?! :)) so they're plain, but they're soft and yummy.

These are the "rejects". I forgot to warn him that if you try to take them off the pan before they cool enough, they'll break. He learned quickly though, and we're snacking on them tonight.

He did a great job though. I told him, he gets to learn how to cook me supper next! He even cleaned up the kitchen!

Anyway...here were my cookies. They're all gone now. I gave some away as a gift. Plus took a tray to the Christmas party the other night and another tray to work.

I'm feeling kind fat, but I plan to get back into shape after the Christmas season. I've slacked off big time on riding the bike. That would probably help my energy level, but being sick hasn't helped my motivation level at all. Plus the only weight I've gained is what I lost when I was sick with the stomach flu.

Here are a few pictures from Saturday night too. Jacob with his White Elephant. Us with a Shake Weight. And Liam and Jack.

I can't believe I have a cold. It's  been driving me crazy. My chest hurts, but it's not as bad as it was earlier this week. It's bad at night and in the morning, but by mid-afternoon I'm doing okay.

1 more day of work left! Then we're heading to Villa Grove tomorrow night for the weekend. If I don't get a chance to blog again, I hope you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Festivities

I wanted to add some pictures to my post, but apparently the uploader isn't working tonight.

Friday I got off work early because there was a Christmas party in the afternoon and a lot of the parents took their kiddos home early too. I love party days! I ran to the eye doctor to pick up a different pair of trial lenses. I hated the first brand she gave me. Now I've switched to Acuvue and really like them! Then I came home and did the dishes and then decided to frost my Christmas cookies, which  took me longer than I thought, but they turned out looking really nice. Did another load of dishes and then got supper in the oven. Then cleaned the bathroom. Once all of that was done I felt pretty accomplished so I relaxed for the rest of the night!

On Saturday I decided it was time to bite the bullet and do some Christmas shopping. I had this thought cross my mind that I should go shopping in Springfield. Then I remembered I tortured myself last year by doing that same thing on the same weekend. It was not worth battling that many people. So...I got on Amazon and bought almost everything I needed. Now I'm praying that it gets here by Thursday before we go to Villa Grove. It's scheduled to all arrive that day and it has been shipped. Now I'll be glued to the tracking device!

I went to Wal-Mart here in town to get pretty much everything else that I needed and to do my grocery shopping. Then off to Dollar Tree to find another White Elephant gift for the party we were going to that night. I came home and got my cookie tray ready, wrapped the gifts and then we headed over to Seth and Sandy's. The kids left and we got to have a grown up party. Haha! We ordered pizza and had lots of tasty treats, played a game and to the gift exchange. The favorite gift of the night was The Shake Weight. Although I ended up with an Edible Thong. Hilarious. It's strawberry/chocolate flavored. Half of me wants to wrap it up again as a white elephant...the other half of me is curious as to what it tastes like? I'm thinking waxy.  HAHAHA! And how exactly do you put food on like underwear? I AM NOT going to try it, so pull your head's out of the gutter.

The rest of the weekend was spent taking it easy. I've got a cold now, which is once again sucking the life out of me. Just when I thought I had energy again. Oh well. Hopefully it exits my body before Christmas!

Holiday Craziness

It's been a pretty busy week and it's been hard getting back into the swing of things. Last week I only worked 1 day, so this week has been really wearing me out. I felt like yesterday and today were never going to end. I'll start back at Monday though.

Monday we were low at work, so I actually got off work early. I was off by 2:00, which was kind of a nice way to ease back into things. My new glasses were in, so I went to pick them up.

I was excited that Jacob really likes them! They're my "cute nerd glasses"!

That night was the Christmas program for the K-2 kiddos. That was a lot of fun and I got a front row seat to it all. Jacob did a great job putting it all together and the kids were all so cute!

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!"

Parties for hosting, marshmallows for toasting and caroling out in the snow!

Tuesday night was the middle school and high school band and choir concert. I knew that one would be longer and since we always get there really early I was smart this time and brought a magazine. I always sit up at the top so I have a back rest, but my back was still killing me by the end of the night. Jacob and Peter did an awesome job with the kids once again!

Yesterday I got a call at 6:00 to see if I could come in early because 2 staff were out sick. It actually worked out well because I wanted off at 3:15, so I just skipped my break and still got 8 hours in. Jacob and I were going to a car dealership here in town to test drive a 2002 Taurus. I was so hoping that it would work out because we really needed a new car and I was getting nervous with winter here. That car didn't stop very well anymore.

We took the Taurus out for a test drive, but we weren't totally getting the "vibe" that it was the right car. There were some dents and scratches on the outside of the car and the interior hadn't been well taken care of. There were stains in places that I have no clue how you could even manage that! The biggest deal breaker was that the heat never fully started to work and we had it running for at least 20 minutes. We decided to see if they had anything else in our price range.

They had a 2004 Oldsmobile Allero here from their Springfield store and they said we could take that one out. We really weren't sure what kind of car it was, but after driving it we decided that we really liked it. There was only one tiny ding in it and the interior has been well taken care of. It even has a cool moon roof! Anyway, they gave us a pretty good price on it and then we had to go through the whole process of buying it. I have to say that even though it was sad to part with the money, it feels good to know that we were able to purchase it outright. I don't ever want to have to make car payments!

I think Jacob was a little sad to say goodbye to his old car, but we're excited to have a new addition...who's name is yet to be determined.

The new car next to the old car. Not the best picture since you can only see part of it, but I'll post better ones of the new car later!

Glad I finally had time to sit down and blog! What a Christmas this is turning out to be. A new TV and a new car. Wow! And last year I got a house for my birthday. Pretty cool if you ask me! Now I should probably start Christmas shopping for others since Christmas is next week! Yikes!

Just Stuff

Friday I attempted to go back to work. I got up, got ready and went in. By the time I got there my stomach was hurting again and my head was spinning. I called the doctor at 8 to see if I could possibly get in sometime that day. They could get me in around 2:30, so I called down to let someone know and they ended up just sending me back home at 8:30. There were lots of kids out sick, so it worked out okay. Probably good that I left because I couldn't think straight. Seriously. I made one of my babies their breakfast and 20 minutes later he was crying and I couldn't figure out why. Then it hit me. His food was still on the counter. Oops! Poor little guy!

My appointment resulted in my doctor sending me for a blood test, and then informing me that I just have a nasty viral infection and also a sinus infection...so at least I got drugs for something, but I didn't even know I had a sinus infection!

Yesterday morning I staying in my PJ's til noon and watched Meet the Parent's with Jacob. I finally showered and ate some soup and then went to Wal-Mart with Jacob to get some gifts I needed for my work Christmas party today and for Jacob to get things for his elementary Christmas concert for tomorrow night (if that even happens now). Then we came home and watched Meet the Fockers and ate pizza. Yep. I was finally up for something other than toast and soup. I made some sugar cookies and about halfway through I started feeling sick again. Once I was finished my headache had returned so I laid on the couch and watched the end of Meet Me In St. Louis since it was on TCM.

This morning Jacob woke me up and told me it snowed! It really didn't seem bad until we had to drive home from church. WOW! There were spots where there were total white out conditions. Not fun. Plus it's FREEZING cold out. Have I ever  mentioned that I don't like snow very much and I loathe winter?

This afternoon we had our work Christmas party. No one informed me it was at my boss' house though so I went to the daycare first. Oh well! It was a fun party. I snacked a little and my stomach didn't hurt too bad afterward. I had one coworker tell me, "You look better! You've got your color back!" Then before I left another coworker said, "You still look a little pale and weak" Don't really know which comment was true!

We played a few games. Had our Secret Sister reveal and had a fun gift exchange which included stealing! Our boss gave us all hoodies with the daycare name on it. My Secret Sister gave me a Hawkeye blanket! Plus I was the last person to go in the gift exchange so I got to steal pretty much whatever I wanted. I took a $15 Maurice's gift card so I can get some new jeans! Here's a few pictures...the rest are up on Facebook.

Tomorrow will be my first whole day back since last Monday. I'm thinking it should be pretty easy. School has already been cancelled in Taylorville for tomorrow. I keep telling Jacob his school will call off tomorrow too (I've got good vibes) but he says they'll still have school. I hope not. I want to drive Lola and not the death-mobile!

Tis The Season To Be Sick

As it turns out, I was not getting better because I've been sick the last couple of days. I haven't felt good since last Wednesday.

I actually felt okay on Monday. I worked all day and didn't feel amazing, but I at least wasn't really sickly feeling.

I had Tuesday and Wednesday off to go to Indiana with Jacob's family for Grandpa John's funeral. We got up early on Tuesday morning and got to Villa Grove just before 8:00. We took a van so we could all ride together and we had a nice drive to Indiana. We stopped for lunch at Steak and Shake. Not really my favorite place on Earth, but I didn't object. Amazingly I actually enjoyed it for once.

We were able to check into our hotel early and had a little time to relax before going to the funeral home for the visitation. We were sharing a room with Rachel and Micah, so we chilled out for a bit and then got ready and I got to meet a few relatives I hadn't met before.

We got to the funeral home a little after 3:00 and the family was able to view the body. It was sad and I cried a little bit, but know that he is with God now. The visitation went from 4-8, so some of us just sat and visited. About an hour into it my stomach started cramping and I spent the next couple hours getting to know the bathroom very well. I finally told Jacob (after he kept asking me if I needed to get some medicine and I kept telling him I was fine) that I needed to get something. We went to the gas station across the street and I told him I didn't even care what outrageous price they were selling it for I just needed some!

After that Micah ended up driving Jacob and I back to the hotel and getting he and Rachel their own room. I felt so bad, but I really just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. I slept alright, but was still up sick a lot. Jacob ended up going down to have breakfast with everyone and brought me a bagel with nothing on it because I was finally feeling a little hungry...it had been 18 hours since I had last eaten anything.

Unfortunately I missed the funeral. I didn't want to miss it, but it just wasn't a good idea at that time. Everyone understood, but I still felt awful. I stayed at Grandma Karin's and Jacob called a few hours later so see if I'd like to join them for the dinner. By that point I felt it was safe enough for me to go. My dinner was 1 slice of ham and Sprite, but that was plenty for me. I was at least able to see some family for a bit more before we had to leave.

We got home last night at 8:00 and I had sent a text to my  boss telling her I had been sick and that I would call when I got home, but she sent one back saying they'd be fine and to take the day off. I'm SO glad that I did. I fell asleep last night at 8:45 and didn't wake up until 8:45 this morning. Literally. I mean, I wake up every single night of my life at least once and this time I was out!

I spent almost the entire day laying on the couch watching TV. I still don't feel right, but I should probably go back to work tomorrow and try to make it through the day. I'm sick of being sick...but I guess if we're looking for a positive I've lost 3 pounds in 2 days.

Weekend Rambling

Well, it turns out that I really did have a stomach virus. I think I'm finally starting to feel better. Hooray! I do have a slight cold on top of it, but hopefully it goes away soon.

Last night Jacob and I watched Home Alone. It's one of those movies that I don't think I'll ever tire of. It makes me laugh every time I watch it.

It was hard to get up this morning, but once I was up and moving I woke up a little more. Man, it was nice having a hair straightener again. I know. That's totally lame. I went 2 days without it, but I looked a mess! How did I walk around with frizzy hair for so many years without caring?

Went to church and had an impromptu Sunday School class, which was kind of fun. I was the kid's church helper during the service today. Thankfully Jacob came to help me out. I'm so out of practice with school age kids, so it was nice having Jacob help me out since he has all of those kids at school!  Not to mention I wasn't feeling too swell for part of the time, so having him there was great. The kids LOVE him. (So do I!)

Had a pretty lazy afternoon and made some Almond Bark Pretzels and Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies! I tried making Nutter Butter Snowmen, but that didn't work. I should have bought mini chocolate chips, but I bought regular sized ones and they made the snowmen look like some kind of freak aliens...I may try again later. I want to try to make my mom's sugar cookies this year. I still need to go buy nutmeg though...apparently there was some kind of recall on it from what I've gathered.

Finishing up supper right now and going to watch some House and Sunday night cartoons with Jacob. Working tomorrow and then leaving for Indiana Tuesday for the visitation and funeral Wednesday.

I have a feeling this month is going to be gone before we know it.

Has Anyone Seen My Energy?

I seem to have lost it about a week ago and haven't been able to muster any up.

I meant to keep up with writing, but I just haven't been feeling that great the last couple of days. I'm really not sure if it's a bug or if it's my new contacts.

I went to the eye doctor on Thursday. My first time going in about 5 years. My new eye doctor told me I need to make sure to come more often than that. Anyway, I've had the same prescription since I was 13, so I think having to adjust to a new prescription after 13 years could probably be causing my headaches and making me feel sick to my stomach. Plus, now I have to wear a different brand because the ones I used to wear have been discontinued. As it turns out, my eye sight has improved! Who knew that could happen? My prescription was too strong which was putting more stress on my eyes. Interesting. Anyway, I'm wearing a trial pair now, but need to order a couple of boxes. I'm also getting new glasses as well.

I didn't feel to great Thursday night. I laid on the couch all night watching House with Jacob as he put our new TV stand together. It looks awesome!

Yesterday I felt awful all day at work. I came home on my break and just laid on the couch the entire time. I felt terrible by the time I had to go back to work. We were short staffed though so I knew I had to go back. I spent the next hour and 45 minutes laying in the floor in between doing things for the babies. One of my coworkers offered to let me go at her time at 4:00 instead of mine at 4:45. Then another coworker said I could leave before her too, so I left at 3:45 and laid on the couch the whole night. I was so thankful to them for doing that for me. I think Jacob knew I wasn't feeling too hot when I texted and told him to pick up fast food for himself. I ate toast and crackers. Yum.

I ended up falling asleep on the couch watching the Illinois game with Jacob so we went to bed and I didn't wake up until 9:00 this morning.

Yesterday afternoon Jacob had gotten a call that his Grandpa John had taken a turn for the worse. He's had leukemia and had been in remission for a short time. They found out earlier this week that it was back and knew he wouldn't have much time to live, maybe a few months. After I woke up Jacob came upstairs and told me that Grandpa John had passed away last night.  I only met him twice, but I was such a wonderful man. It's sad that he's passed away, but I'm also happy to know that he's with God and that he won't have to suffer at all anymore. Please pray for the family though.

I sent Jacob to see Harry Potter today. I knew he'd been wanting to see it and it's playing in town so he went to watch that. I went to Wal-Mart to buy baking supplies and a new hair straightener (since my old one semi-died yesterday and I almost electrocuted myself this morning trying to fix it). Of course, once I came home I had NO energy once more and my stomach hurt, so I haven't baked anything. Plus they were out of nutmeg, so I can't bake my cookies anyway. Jacob vacuumed the house for me because I was so stressed out. I love him and am so thankful for him.

I see another night of laying on the couch in front of me. Going to see if I can convince Jacob to watch Home Alone with me! Either that, or we'll just have another House marathon!

The Good and The Bad

It is just me or is this week going by extremely slow? Maybe it's because I'm still going through long weekend withdrawal.  Plus I feel like all this good stuff keeps happening and yet I keep getting down at the same time. It's weird.

The Good Stuff

*Our Christmas present arrived yesterday in the from of an HD TV!

*Our TV stand arrived 20 minutes ago!

*Babysat cute little boys the other night.

*Got our photo Christmas cards in the mail and I've even gotten a lot of the addressed already. Go me! Can't wait to mail them out!

*Got the house all decorated for Christmas. Loving Christmas music. Plus I bought things to make Christmas treats for people!

The Bad Stuff

*I totally smashed my finger trying to drag the TV stand in off the porch. It's still throbbing a little bit.

*I've been tired all week.

*I miss my co-worker A LOT. That's my biggest downer from this week. Instead I'm working alone some days (which I don't really mind) or working with the one person who I pretty much cannot stand working with. That in itself make me want to run away and hide. I have to take deep breaths and try not to go off the deep end. I'm not sure how much of it I'll be able to stand though. Last time I worked with this person I eventually got to the point where I'd come home and cry every night, and I just can't deal with that.

*I had to deal with some life insurance lady who came to work yesterday. I dodged her the first time. They basically try to con you into signing up for something "free", but I'm convinced they'll charge us after that time is up and make it nearly impossible to get out of it. Jacob and I had already discussed it and I planned to say no. Well, I went in and said I wasn't interested right away. Then she started asking me some questions. After a couple I was like, "What are you doing?" because she was typing things on her laptop. I was like, "Are you signing me  up for this?" She said she was. Yeah...that's gonna win me over. She kept pressuring me and giving me the run around until I finally got exasperated and asked, "So you're telling me I CAN'T REJECT THIS???" Finally she backed down and made me sign something saying I declined.  I cannot stand pushy people and I am quite proud of myself for standing my ground.

Anyway...it's Survivor time so I'm off to relax!