Top Ten

Be warned...this post has nothing to do with anything except for the random thoughts that dance around in my head.

1. I'm watching American Idol right now. There is a man from Milwaukee who just auditioned in his Civil War re-enactor's uniform (complete with rifle), singing that old Lion King song, "In the Jungle". Need I say more?
2. I'm addicted to Lay's Kettle Chips. Seriously. I just finished off one bag, and ate 1/3 of another.
3. I just unzipped my jacket and out fell a kettle chip.
4. I bought a new planner at Target and I'm kind of obsessed with it...like I'm trying to come up with things to do just so that I can write them down in the appropriate date. I'm a little OCD like that.
5. I know that it's a little late in the "new year" to make a list of resolutions, but I decided that instead of doing resolutions for the whole year, I would pick one goal to focus on a month, and hopefully they would build on each other.
6. January's goal? Get a planner. Mission accomplished.
7. To keep myself accountable, I think I'll post the goal on here at the beginning of each month. Not that you have to care, it will just make me focus.
8. I'm contemplating breaking into the bag of kettle chips again.
9. Someone help me...I have a problem.
10. G'night!!

Christmas, Part 2

Once again, I'm a slacker and have yet to finish a blog post I started about 10 days ago. Well, Christmas and New Year's have both come and gone, and I just finished my third week back to work with the kiddos.

The second part of our break was spent with my family. Dutch Boy and I flew back to Houston, where we met my parents and grandparents (both sides!), plus my aunt, uncle, and cousins. We all drove over to San Antonio to meet my baby brother and to see his graduation from Air Force Basic Training at Lackland Air Force Base.

Here come the pictures!

Christmas, Part 1

As I mentioned in my last post, our Christmas vacation was fairly hectic. During the first couple of days, we traveled to Michigan to visit Dutch Boy's parents. As evidenced by this photo out of the airplane, the Midwest has gotten a ton of snow.

I don't know what this picture tells you, except that the clouds can form in pretty cool ways:

At his parents' house, we opened presents:

We drove to "The Thumb" (otherwise known as the east-central part of the state) to visit with some of his extended family, and endured the blustery 20-30 mile/hour winds and drifting snow. I only took a couple pictures here, because that was as long as I could stand the frigid temperatures!

My in-laws' house is surrounded by farms, which means ample opportunity for fantastic cow pictures (Have I mentioned how much I love cows?),

And also some pictures of the beautiful northern outdoors:

To be continued...

There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays...

Sorry I've been MIA lately. I'm still recovering from my holiday travels and food coma(s). If this map doesn't do my two weeks of rest and relaxation justice, maybe my explanation will:

1) It all started in Austin...
2) We drove to Houston to drop the dog off at my grandma's and catch our flight...
3) Flew to Chicago
4) Drove to Grand Rapids, where we had a delicious meal of Homemade Beef and Noodles (Dutch Boy's Grandma's specialty)
5) Drove about an hour north to his parents' house
6) Drove back to Grand Rapids for Christmas Day
7) Drove back to his parents' house
8) Drove to the east side of the state (The Thumb, if you will) for the other side of his family's annual gathering
9) Drove back to his parents' house
10)Drove to Grand Rapids to stay the night
11)Drove to Chicago
12)Flew to Houston
13)Drove to San Antonio with my parents and grandparents for my brother's graduation from Basic Training
14)CAME HOME.

Ugh. I'm tired just typing that. Soon, I will include a full report of my action-packed Christmas. Happy hump-day!