Chris' Birthday

For Chris' birthday this year we went down to Dallas (Frisco, actually) and purchased him the media center he's been wanting.

It's from Ikea and he's been looking at it for a while now. I figured we needed it now to cover up the cords to keep them away from Erin.
So Chris and I left Erin with her Gammy and Granpa on Chris' birthday and drove the whole 4 hours down. Then we walked around the Ikea for a few hours (due excersize after being in the car that long!). With some extra birthday money he had we were able to upgrade it a little and get a few extras we had been eyeing. We were even able to get a huge picture we had both been talking about since the last time we went (I was surprised they still had it!) to go in the living room.

We stayed the night and came back the next day. Chris had a meeting even though it was his day off, so he didn't get to jump in and work on it right away. But for the past couple of days he's been able to do little bits and pieces. Erin helps out ever so often, and I... well I just sit back and make sure neither of them poke their eye out.



I'm so excited to see what it looks like when it's done! He's off work today, with no forseable meetings (but I do have a dr. apt that he has to watch Erin during), so he should be able to finish it today... at least mostly. I'm so excited! I think I'm more excited than he is!

Excerpt from 42

I found this excerpt and had to laugh... then share it with you. It's from "Extra Virgin Olive Girl"

THE TONYS
I was sitting, eating popcorn, on the couch when Ma came in and plopped down beside me. I was in the middle of watching the Tony Awards and suddenly realized I was not going to enjoy any more of it.
“Oooh! Is that Doogie Howzer?” Mom almost squealed with girlish glee when she recognized the host.
“Neil Patrick Harris? Yeah, he’s hosting it this year.”
“He was such a bright young doctor. Remember that time you saw him on Broadway? You should have married him.”
“You do realize he’s not really a doctor?”
“Of course I do. I’m just saying he’s smart enough, he could have been one.”
“What?”
“He was so smart, always spouting those big words and getting all those people better. I’m just saying not many actors can pull that off.”
“You realize half the actors in Hollywood have played doctors.” I didn’t want to have to explain the definition of acting to her.
“Yes, but George Clooney and John Stamos are too old for you.” Of course, in my mom’s mind there were only four actors in Hollywood: George Clooney, John Stamos, Neil Patrick Harris, and Leonardo DeCaprio… sometimes there was Brad Pitt, but he didn’t really count in her mind since he’d become more of an activist. I should have known better and stopped the conversation right then.
“You do know Neil Patrick Harris is gay, right?” But Ma wouldn’t hear of this.
“Nonsense, doll, you say all these Broadway actors are gay.”
“That’s because they are!”
“Doll, if you don’t want to marry an actor, I understand. I mean they are prettier than you, but you don’t have to go around slandering them.” And at that, I just rolled my eyes and dropped the conversation. There was no winning this. I vowed that any further conversations that might follow that path would only be met with popcorn stuffed in my mouth.

COTM - Dad Life

Love this video! A friend posted it for Father's Day, and I wanted to share it with all you guys out there. Enjoy!

New Site

Ok, so I haven't been posting a lot of anything here for a few months. But I have a perfectly good excuse: Erin Elizabeth Rose Rich!
She was born February 10, 2010 by C-section and since then I haven't posted much of anything except when I can and it's all on her site. Let me invite you to join me on that site:
http://richnlife.blogspot.com/
because I'm not on this one all that much. I am doing well, but everything that is good in my little world revolves around her at this time. Enjoy her site and I'll be back on this one someday. I imagine as time goes by I'll have more time to be on the computer, enough for both sites. But there will probably be a huge time gap until then.
ta-ta for now.

Eagle Signs

It sounds a bit weird, but today we saw a good omen... at least I think. Chris and I were on our way this morning to McDonalds to get some breakfast before going to the baby doctor for the "stress tests" and saw an eagle. Not just any eagle, a bald eagle! I didn't even know Oklahoma had them! I know they had eagles and such, but a bald eagle! It was just sitting there, on what we assumed was an animal carcas, and it turned and looked at us like "well, what?" With the snow around it was hard to tell what exactly it was sitting on, but it was beautiful and so amazing!

LBG's Baby Shower

Busy Busy Busy

Wow, it feels like I'm getting off a whirlwind and jumping onto another. Chris just finished his vacation time and is back at work, so I've been occupying my time "nesting." We've got most of the Christmas decore put away (mainly it's just the tree that's out).
The house was nice and clean before we left for Houston, but now it's a wreck again. So I'm working on that. Also I've been working on the nursery, which is good. Christmas came and went, along with the "Blizzard of 09"... we got a lot of snow, and it was just starting to go away when anothe rbout has come in... not as bad, but it's made the roads dangerous.
Anyway, I'm looking around at a mess, and trying to figure out where to start... and if I have enough time. With LBG due date so close (1 month folks!) I feel crammed again. We're going to the Cotton Bowl for New Years, and then the shower, and then she'll be here! Do I have time to finish the room? Absolutely shouldn't be a problem if I can get the house back in order... urgh... maybe that's where I start. I just feel so tired most of the time. I mean, it's all I can do to sit with the computer on my lap and reach for the water cup that seems so far away. The silliness of pregnancy. It's made it hard to get to bed, and harder still to avoide it sometimes.
I'm gonna make it, though... right?

White Christmas

I had a very merry white Christmas here in Oklahoma.

Graduation

Well, the OSU 2009 Fall commencement was this weekend... I think I actually graduated. I'm pretty sure I did all the paperwork and such to graduate, and was told I did... but that was so many months ago, I'm just not sure. I'll be a bit aprehensive until I get the actual diploma in my hands. It should arrive within 4-6 weeks... sounds like something else (LBG) that'll be arriving around that time. I kind of hope I get the diploma first.

Life Coming At Us Fast

Wow... it doesn't seem like "just yesterday," but it doesn't seem like that long ago that I had a whole different perspective on life. Those views have changed since LBG has come into view. I mean, I've been pregnant for a while (yes, 7.5 months is a while when your 27) but it seems like just within these last few months that I've really really felt pregnant. I guess it's because I actually look pregnant and can feel her.
I can't wait till she comes, but I love the way I feel (when I'm not deadly tired... which is being so tired I become such a bitch everyone wishes they were dead), and the way she feels. There's a part that doesn't want that day to come, but I know deep inside it has to, and I can't just be pregnant forever. And that I'll love her even more when she's out. I'm excited, and aprehensive... and trying to find things to do. But I sort of just want to sit there and feel every kick while I still can... but sitting too long and not doing anything makes me tired. So, I'm blogging... before I take a nap.
And actually, that's all I've got. Thanks for tuning in.

Reasons Zombies Make Cool Parents

Not my creation, but really fun. Just had to post. It's from the Zits comic strip this year for Halloween week.

Thinking Ahead, Gift-wise

WARNING: CHRISTMAS SPOILER ALERT! Do not read if you don't want to know what you're getting! I just wanted to share this story (mainly with myself):
I was "talking" to one of my friends on facebook today, trying to figure out what to get people for Christmas. I know, I know... we still have Thanksgiving to get through and it is just now Halloween! But she has a huge family and is worried about finances, just like everyone else.
I have to say I was inspired last year. I took a family recipie for shortbread cookies and cooked them up for Thanksgiving. They went over so very well everyone was saying that that was what they wanted for Christmas. Well, I've had a year to think about it and am excited to get started cooking on those again. I've found some cute cookie cutters, and will be keeping an eye out for cute/unique Christmas tins. I love the shortbread because they're great with tea (and other hot drinks), not too sweet, a family tradition/favorite, and they stay for-ev-er (not literally, but it sure seems that way, which is nice because you don't have to eat them all in one sitting... or two... or...).
And when I started thinking about that and telling her about my idea for this year, past memories of Christmas came rushing back. As a child I never thought we were strapped for cash, and it's a feeling I want to pass on to my children. But I can remember such fun times making this amazing little decorations that we'd send out with our cards every year.
I think my favorite ones were the gingerbread men and women that were no bigger than a couple of inches tall. They weren't made for eating, because they were made out of some kind of clay instead of cooking ingreadients... except they smelled like gingerbread! We made those when we lived in Saudi and I remember my last high school year decorating the tree in Yale (many many years later) and still being able to smell them. I'm going to have to do something like that one year with LBG.
Another thing I remember us doing, and I'm not sure but I think this was a completely different year, was painting and decorating wooden gingerbread men and women as gifts. These were a bit bigger, and I'm pretty sure Mom decorated the ones we sent out. But us kids decorated a few for ourselves and we still have them in our Christmas boxes. They were 6-8 inches tall and we had to stain them first so that they were dark like the cookies.
Man! This gets me so excited! I can't wait to do those things with LBG! Next year will be fun. But I'll have to find something for us to do those first few years until she gets old enough to properly "play" with that kind of stuff (you know, not put it in her mouth).

On Airports by Lee Evans

I loved this and just had to share it! I know you guys all travel and will just laugh and laugh.

Lee Evans pops out in my head from Mouse Trap, but when I was in London it turns out he was staying at the same apts! We actually saw him in the lobby a few times.

1 Year Anniversary

Well, as a few of you know, yesterday was Chris and I's 1 year anniversary... at least here in Oklahoma.

It was good, a little better than the average day. But I think we both feel okay that we didn't do much, we both didn't really have all that much energy yesterday to go out and do something.

Chris got off work around 4pm. I was out exchanging jeans at the mall. When I came home and got him away from the Wii we went to Lowes and picked out a ceiling fan (an anniversary gift) for the living room. Then I made dinner. I was planning on having the house a little bit more picked up, but it was okay. He was happy I was making food.

We had ranch-style chicken, roasted herb/spice red potatoes, and green beans. We had a part of our cake top, but were stuffed by the time we got to it. There's still some in the fridge. We watched some TV and a movie we had. After that we headed to bed and played some music for baby belly and watched her dance around a little.

He had asked me about it a few days beforehand wondering what we wanted to do, but honestly I didn't know. I couldn't think of anything grande that didn't require money, so...

It doesn't sound all that grandly fabulous (we didn't go anywhere special or stuff like that) but I think it was a nice anniversary overall. We were both a bit tuckered out and it was good to just relax for a little while.

Lee Evans On Airports

I loved this and just had to share it! I know you guys all travel and will just laugh and laugh.

Lee Evans pops out in my head from Mouse Trap, but when I was in London it turns out he was staying at the same apts! We actually saw him in the lobby a few times.

Tenacious D-Wonderboy

Such a fun song! I've had it stuck in my head ever since we played it for little baby belly. Ahh... Wonderboy! You know, Tenacious D were actually a really good band. I mean the harmonies and melodies were right on. Was it just because their image that they were squashed, or the rise of JB's career, or just they didn't want to do it anymore, or was it the R-rating (almost X in some) for most of their music?
Anyway, this song has been stuck in my head for the past few days, so I thought I'd share it with you. They really are/were a great band.
Because they have it... how bout the power to move you! Take me far away from the mucky-muck...

Hell's Kitchen: Season 6: Episode 13 - Part 1/5

I thought this was an awesome way for Gordon Ramsey to start the chefs' day! Such a cute little kid!!
This episode is a good one for this season.

and it's so true what they all said about vegitarians (sorry, veggies, but...).

New Computer

Yeah! I've got a new laptop! I'm very excited. It's a Sony Vaio NW. Very nice. I'm so excited about it! I'm typing on it right now.

Jim N Nick's Gastronomically Delicious Cheese Biscuits!

Jim N Nicks Cheese Biscuits Recipe! Check it out!

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Nice Days

It's been so nice here in Oklahoma lately. Just when it starts getting too hot to handle, a storm comes thru and cools everything down. Today is another beautiful cloudless day where the girls can't decide if they want to spend it outside or in. Pixi prefers spending the hours staring at her reflextion in the back door glass while Tira wakes herself up barking at the slightest sounds.
Chris has been working hard, although this week he got a number of days off that left him feeling at a loss of what to do.
I, on the other hand, have been super busy, or at least busier than usual. I'm still working (1) McD's drive-thru, and their (2) reader board programs. Now I've been asked to do (3) general hiring for them. It's an awesome job. It's so nice meeting with the people and figuring out if they'd be a good fit with the company. Everyone has to fit into a certain guidelines before I even set up an interview, so the last part is just formal. But it's been a lot of fun. The new store has so many applicants. I finally got thru the first stack of applicants, and am now on to the next. Sadly this job will only last about a month, but that's good because I'm finding a lot of people for them, and I hope most work out. There's one or two that I'm sure won't last, but I'd love to be proven wrong on them.
Anyway, I'm super excited about the jobs, they're just leaving me a bit exhausted. I just have to pace myself, stop staying up till Chris comes home, and take naps. I just wasn't that smart about the whole thing this last week and got kind of ragged. But the weekend will refresh and all will be well next week.