Hi Everyone. I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving! I know I sure did. There is so much to be thankful for and every year, I love ThanksG even more.
The day before Thanksgiving, I was able to watch the turkey being pardoned at the White House. It was actually pretty stinking cute.
POTUS brought Sasha & Malia. It was very cute. Fun event to cover.
Two turkeys weren't so lucky, though, and ended up at my sister's house! Mmmm. One roasted, one fried... my brother-in-law, Jimmy does it like that every year, and they are both yummolicious.
Action shot of Jimmy & Tracy cookin' up the goodness.
JT getting hungry...
Table settings... isn't my sister amazing?
Tracy had to put out paper napkins for those who are afraid of cloth ones... I, for the record, did use my pretty red cloth napkin. Thus, creating laundry for my sister. Sorry :)
My Dad enjoying the food. EVERYTHING was sooooo good. Too bad we never even made it to Round Two. That's the thing about Thanksgiving, you always think you're going to eat soooo much, but run out of room!
Colby, in his food coma. Wesley was trying to get him to exercise. Haha. Throw the ball, will you?
Okay, I have to go. More coming later....
Okay, 7 days later, I'm back :)
My siter's mom was feeling good! Yay, Shannon! One of the sweetest people on the plane!
The Colbster and Toby... he's like the Dog Whisperer or something, haha.
My Michael and My Mama. You are not permitted to enter this family unless you have beautiful eyes!
I can't even tell you how much it warmed my heart to watch/listen to these two together! My little brother has tolerated my past boyfriends and what not.. but he never really liked any of them and always asked me "What's the point?" Until Thanksgiving, Michael & Chris hadn't even met yet. The whole long distance relationship/my brother's in the Army thing kind of got in the way! But, they really seemed to hit it off, and that made me soooo happy!
Note the sleevelessness. It was nice and warm and toasty on Thanksgiving, and I was truly THANKFUL for that! :)
JT looking all cute.
Look at these people! They are like the same person, in different shapes and sizes, no? Chris was definitely the star of the party! We were so glad to have him with us to share in some family togetherness and of course, pictures...
This picture brings up a couple of thoughts.... 1. My mother cannot take pictures. (note her finger) 2. I really need to get my hair cut.
The newly minted annual tradition of Brayden making silly faces with Photobooth continued. He sure does love his Uncle Chris!!
There was a new event this year, perhaps this will become an annual tradition as well? An impromptu gathering of white people dancing in their uber-white-people-fabulous way, right there in the Lane living room. I'm uploading a video to YouTube now... don't say I didn't warn you...
Hello, friends. Not much time, quick post here. I'm finally feeling 100%, yay. I do not like feeling all icky! I am a very busy girl and I cannot be slowed down by sickness, I do not have time!
No... I did NOT go to the big, fat fancy State Dinner at the White House last night. I had leftover sloppy joes with this guy instead:
And, you know what? There's no place I'd rather be. I snapped this picture with my phone, that's why it's all ghetto. Michael looked so great all business-like yesterday because he had a job interview. It was so nice to be able to meet up in the city and commute home together!
Even though I didn't go to the State Dinner President Obama hosted last night for the Indian Prime Minister, I did go to their news conference earlier in the day, and I'm happy to report I was closer than I've ever been to the POTUS (about 10 feet away) and I'm pretty sure we made direct eye contact... twice. It was one of those days where I had to pinch myself to make sure I'm really living this life.. and getting paid for it. Seriously. I have the best job, ever! Thank you, Lord.
Ugh... I have a voice mail. I hate voice mail and fax machines. Seriously, they're so 90s! Can we please move into the 2010s....?
Okay - I'm off to the White House to watch the President pardon the turkey. I hear his name is Courage. I don't know why, but that's just kind of funny. I'm not sure if I'll have time to post about that later - if I don't, y'all have a Happy Thanksgiving! We're road tripping down to see my family INCLUDING MY LITTLE BROTHER, CHRIS, I can't wait to see everyone!!!
I spent all weekend feeling like crap. Fever, exhaustion, the whole deal. I had to push through it, though, because the laundry didn't understand it was supposed to wash itself and the house didn't understand it was supposed to clean itself and the food didn't understand it was supposed to cook itself.
It took me like 4 hours to clean my two bedroom apartment, but I did it. And I made a grocery store run. And I made Chicken & Dumplings. And I made my first bread... homemade Pumpkin Bread!
This isn't a good pic... trust me, it was yummy. Ask hubs and everyone in my newsroom.
And I managed to get my husband up, dressed (pretty much, I won't lie, he spent two days in jammies being "supportive" :)), cleaned and fed. And we made it to church and small group. Thankfully I had some back rubs and help around the house and my favorite dog walker pitching in. And we ate out for two meals on Sunday.
Remember how I was all bragging about my gorgeous mop boy? After that post, Brokaw ate Michael's glove (I lost the other one like a year and a half ago on our way to a Kenny Chesney concert) which he uses to hold the mop. I was like OH, GREAT, now I have to mop!! Hahaha... Yep, did that too. Anyways... M ordered new gloves and they are even better than the old ones he had!! Yay. You know, I grew up in a Family Business family, so I have to give a shout out to the woman who makes these gloves! They are awesome, they look nice, work really well for pushing M's wheelchair, and here's to hoping that mop can slide under there in between his hand and the glove!! :) I really hope my mop boy is back in action soon!
Now, for Food Waste Friday (which was more like Sunday around our house, but whatev). I've been wanting to actually take a picture of my food waste for months, but if you know me, you know how quick I am to put something in the trash can so I had to be quick with the camera.
It's mashed sweet potatoes. I had no idea that one sweet potato can apparently feed a village.
Today, I'll finally get to be back over at the White House, I've missed my basement dwelling days, but now that the Prez is back from Asia, I'm back in business! And, with any luck, my computer will be working, double yay!
Now, for a little more randomness...
If you love Puggles and you are open to the idea that there is another Puggle out there who is as cute (and way smarter) than Brokaw, check out this blog.
And if you want to see a great interview with some advice about how to handle your husband, which oddly feels like it's peeking into my own life, watch this.
I just looked at my desk calendar at work, which is this really cheesy "Christian" desk calendar that I bought back in like 1997 when I used to shop at "Christian" book stores... I appreciate it's nice Bible verses and what not on a daily basis, though, even if it is ridiculously cheesy.
Like today.. the quote is from Max Lucado. Did you forget he exsisted? Me too.
But this is nice:
"Gratitude. More aware of what you have than what you don't."
Oh, I like it. I am so quick to be jealous of what others have, etc. I have to really guard against it. It comes so naturally to me, I've been like that since I was a kid. You'd think I was a middle child or something :) I really am so thankful for where I am, what I have and who I get to spend life with... even though sometimes I get distracted, or lose perspective.
What a perfect reminder for this week, going into ThanksG!
Waaaay back in my single days, you know, like 2 months ago... I used to LOVE my Saturday mornings. You remember, that's when some of my best blogs would be churned out. After sleeping for like 12 hours, I'd get up way before the rest of the world, brew a fresh cup of coffee, have some nice snuggle time with the pets, and clean my house. Oh, it was the best!
My blissful, quiet, alone time Saturday mornings have seriously been far and few between since getting married. I realized not long into this thing how important my "alone time" was. But, it's just so darned difficult to carve out when there are responsibilities all over the place, you know?
But right now, RIGHT NOW... I am here. And I'm having a classic Saturday morning. I made a fresh pot of coffee, just the way I like it, super strong. I poured it into my big red coffee mug, put whipped cream and caramel sauce on top, got my favorite blanket (shout out Ann, your college comforter!), a couple of cookbooks, obviously, my laptop, and I'm snuggled up with Katy Kitty on my lap as I type this by the light of an awesome smelling Yankee candle. Brokaw and Princess are sleeping. So is Michael, or, he may just be laying there giving me "my time." Either way, I'm soaking this up!
It's still rainy and dreary outside and that just makes me want to read and write and drink coffee. I think I have about half an hour. So, bye! I'm thinking about trying to bake some bread today. Do you think I can do it? I'm oh so inspired all the time by the pics on The Frugal Girl's blog, but I've always been intimidated... Deep breath....
We'll see if there's time later today after we run errands. Thank God we already cleaned the house! I love waking up to an already clean house on Saturday morning. It's like a head start. Nothing like a head start.
Really? Now I'm rambling... let me get back to doing nothing. Hope you all have relaxing weekends!
To all of my friends whose husbands do nothing to help you out around the house... Read it and weep! Show this to your man, then make him get off his duff and pitch in. 'Cause if my man can do it.....
Look at my Michael hard at work! This boy knows his way around a mop and a mop bucket. (note Brokaw "supervising," more like pondering the next place he will pee/poop to destroy said clean floors) Thankfully! And no, I am not a quadriplegic slave driver! He actually said while beginning to mop last night that he either "likes" or "loves" mopping! Wouldn't want to botch the quote... This is such a huge help to me around the house. You have no idea. Mopping 1100 something square feet of living space you share with three pets is a JOB! Thank you, Babe! Tell all your friends who this gets in trouble they need to step it up anyway!
In Other News around our house... Brokaw is *pretty much* sleeping in his own bed! It's been about two weeks of "go to your spot" (he's also tied up with a leash in a way that he couldn't possibly jump in our bed, but we won't dwell on that) and Mr. Puggles is getting the hang of things.
Sorry about the crazy flash eyes. And the fact that it looks like my dog has crack nails.
Of course, Princess Perfection didn't require any begging to snuggle up in her "dog bed" at all.
That's all from me for the week. My brain hurts! Not from my not-even-on-a-fifth-grade-level blog posts, but from writing stories at work about Afghanistan policy,stem cell research and minutae of the health care bills. Oooouuch. I'm so ready to sit on the couch and watch something like The Food Network or College Football... you know, something you don't have to think about. If you are looking to have some sort of intellectually stimulating conversation this weekend, don't call me! I'm fried.
Happy Veterans Day! And thank you to all of you who have served, are serving, and will serve in the future. I'm so thankful for the sacrifices that have been made so that I can happily live and work and worship and blog and breathe in and out in safety.
Chris, my prayers are with you each and every single day. FYI, little bro is in Ranger school in Georgia right now and he is WILLING and ABLE to accept care packages! If you want to send him something, e-mail me!
In Other News... M's b-day was a success! I successfully, athough reluctantly and stressfully, completed his dinner wish of Navy Beans with Ham Hock. Or is that A Ham Hock? Or Ham Hocks? I have no idea. I hadn't ever heard of such a thing until the other day when he requested it. Southern boy. If it's not on the Food Network, or my dad didn't make it when I was growing up, I do not know of it.
Thankfully, we made it through making dinner without any divorce papers being filed. And, we'll have yummy leftovers tonight!
After that, it was majorly huge hot fudge sundaes, also at Hubs' request. That, I had no problem with :) Actually, I couldn't finish mine, but it was the size of my head.
This year, for the first time, I got to stroll down the birthday card aisle and look in the "Husband" section. It felt so strange!
Not that there's a chance that there's a card that exsists that could possibly put into words how glad I am that Michael Ritter was born 33 years ago today.
He's my husband, my best friend, my hero, my lover, my partner, my comforter, my dog walker, my laundry folder, my inspiration, my reason... I could go on and on and on.... and apparently Hallmark doesn't even have a section that's labled all of those things. As if!
I love this man with all that's in me. I love him even more than I did the day I married him, just two months ago. I love him even more than I thought I ever would two years ago, this week, when we decided to take the plunge and be "boyfriend/girlfriend" (how middle school, I know). I have the feeling it will always be like this. That's what I hope, what I pray, and what I look forward to.
It's so much fun building our own traditions now that we're married. This morning, I set out all of his birthday cards, and made cinnamon buns with candles for him to blow out.** Fresh coffee with whipped cream. We got up and started celebrating right away. The fun will continue tonight.
BABE - I hope this day that you feel the LOVE. From everyone. I've never met a person who knows you, or even just knows OF you that doesn't think you're amazing. I'm so incredibly proud and honored to be your wife.
Here's to 33 and all that this year in your life holds. I love sharing every moment with you. Muah!
The re-enactment of blowing out the candles. I was trying to be all perfect-wife with the cinnamon buns... learned a little lesson about that? Wanna hear it? Here it goes. Apparently... you shouldn't put wax candles in cinnamon buns that are fresh out of the oven if it takes half an hour to get to the breakfast table. We had melted wax in the middle of our buns! Nothing a knife and a hungry dog couldn't fix, though :) Thank God I didn't light the candles... Hahaha.. live and learn. Welcome to our life - lots of trial and error, baby!
The card loot. Courtesy of our sweet families.
Mr. Birthday boy digging in. Hey, sleepy eyes, c'mon!
Who knew yard work could be so much fun? We watched Sunday as Jarred raked (and Brody helped) the leaves in their front yard into a giant pile so Brody could jump into them.
Brody thought running straight into them would be more fun. In the end, I thought he looked like that giant pile of trash that talked on Fraggle Rock. Remember that?
It was so much fun to be there. Oh, precious moments.
Michael and I took our first road trip as a married couple and we not only survived, we thrived! Wow, the caffeine is really working :)
No, for real, it was SOOOO nice. I had been working so much and traveling so much leading up to the wedding that I was not a fan of hours upon hours spent in the car, but this time it really was VERY, VERY nice. I love my husband. And his family rocks.
We road tripped it down to North Carolina in celebration of Michael's birthday and his beautiful cousin Caitlin's 13th birthday!!
Thankfully, I found something to do with my camera other than take pictures of coffee.
Brody is three years old and tons of fun! He is sweet, and funny, and just the right level of energetic. And oh. so. cute!
Story to MELT your heart - Sunday morning, Michael and I were laying in the bed and Brody came downstairs to say good morning to us. He crawled in between us with his Gameboy and he was playing Super Mario Brothers (3, I think, Babe, correct me if that's wrong). I helped him a bit, pushing the buttons to help his little Luigi jump into a tunnel. Brody wanted Uncle Mike to help. "You do it." Michael, "I can't buddy, my fingers don't work." Michael was really great at telling Brody what to do (Of course!) Brody was cool with that for like a second and he asked Michael to do it again. Michael told him again that he couldn't do it because his fingers don't work. Then... stand by for your heart melting... Brody says to Michael, "I have tools." Ohhhhhhh. I wanted to CRY my eyes out! A little bit later, when Jarred was down, Brody actually went and got his little plastic hammer and saw and went to work on Uncle Mike's hands. I so wish Brody could fix those fingers. That purity. So beautiful! Such a sweet boy. Okay, it's over, check to make sure your heart is still beating, now that it's all melted and what not.
Shout out to Tonja, Michael's aunt, faithful blog reader and fellow Diet Coke lover!
Happy 13th birthday Caitlin! Love those bangs!
Yes, we had the waiters at Champp's sing. Yay for birthday ice cream!!
There was another birthday table across from us and this guy was wearing a jacket that said "Original Soulboy No. 1" You know I had to get a picture of that!
Look at that birthday boy, ain't he cute? I just realized there were a lot of 3's going on. Caitlin's 13. Michael's 33. Brody's 3 (it wasn't his birthday, but still). And we had 3 bowls of ice cream. Cheers!
Oh! I just thought of another one - Baby Grey is 3 months old! I look old and tired and wrinkly here but look at Greyson - he's such a sweet ball of rolley, poley babyness. I loved holding him all weekend!
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