rollin' on the river!

Yes, I just watched this week's episode of Glee! I'm going to have wild dreams about performing songs while careening across a stage in a rusty wheelchair tonight.

Nolan agreed to watch Glee with my tonight instead of 24 (he's been feeling like Glee hasn't been as good lately), if I agreed to take a bite of whatever he had behind his back. It was one of his concoctions, and I told him I'd just watch Glee without him in bed because there was NO WAY I was trying his experiment. Good thing, too, because it turned out to be this:

Turns out it was tuna with a whole lot of other things mashed in. How did he put it while I took this picture? "Ohmygosh. That looks like cat food! Or POOP!" Mmmm, tempting.

I discovered a new favourite lunch food recently. Annie Chun's brand asian food from Walgreens. I know, not exactly high quality, right? Look, when you want cheap, fast, relatively healthy and tasty food, Walgreens has some decent options. Besides, this is someone who spent several romantic meals in Europe at McDonald's with her husband--don't be too shocked that I get lunch at Walgreens.

Cullenized!

Today the Caldwells officially went green:

We decided it was time to switch to stainless steel, and stop using plastic! Plus the cute bottle (mine is the blue one) is motivation for me to drink more water (and less coffee?). It has a delicious smooth feeling as I drink it. Yummmm! I highly recommend making the switch!

Also by special request, ylehsa made me into a Cullen. Actually, I guess, she made me into (*SPOILER!*) Bella Cullen! Haha. This is possibly the creepiest I have ever looked:


Today I stocked up on Ghirardelli's Peppermint Bark for my cube, and ate a shameful amount of it. Hello holidays! Goodbye resolve to eat better :(

a day in the life

I have often wondered what Milo does during the day while we're gone. Today I got to find out. I went downtown to pick up my laptop so that I could work from home, and when I walked back through the door, I found Milo pinning a fly against the cupboard door. He turned around, gave me a look that clearly said, "what are YOU doing home?!", and then I saw the fly squeeze through his paws on the cupboard, and he had to catch it all over again. Later, he was chasing invisible creatures across the carpet, and then he put himself down for a nap before sitting in the window for the rest of the day and people-watching. How can you not love this little creature--curled up on top of his favourite little toy:

And people-watching out the window...though at the moment, he was eyeing me as I crept closer:


My dad and his business partner were in Oakland today for a conference, and so they came to our house so that my dad could fix a rogue tube in our car (I found it, but I didn't fix it this time :( ). What a blessing that they were in the area the day after we had car problems! And that they were willing to go out of their way to come! Which is why I worked from home--so I could provide keys and tools and whatever else help was necessary. And I wanted to see my dad! So while I worked, I had stuff in the oven, among which was my favourite pineapple upside-down cake:

And now I'm sitting here with Ash U, enjoying Dutch chocolate and cheese, and French wine! Ahhh I'm spoiled :)

Had a very shiny nose...

I love the weekends...

Waking up to play with my boys and enjoy a little bit of extra sleep.

This weekend while backstage at church, I discovered this:

...which makes me <3 our java ministry and whatever hooligan graffitied our kitchen with that.

Quote of the day:
Nolan: "You look like a reindeer."
Me: "What!?! WHY!"
Nolan: "Because...you're like Rudolph, and you light up my life."
Me: "Hhh. Smooth."

fluff

I have a big meeting tomorrow, so tonight I have to hem my nice pants so that I don't look like a loser whose legs aren't long enough to fill out even the smallest size Gap sells. This is going to be interesting, since my fingers are all pruned up from soaking in lukewarm water for an hour while preparing, bathing, and blow-drying Milo. The perks of all this are that he will be much cleaner, and he won't smell like trash anymore (we hope). Just this evening, we looked at him and wondered aloud what the yellow patches in his fur were around his neck. Is it even possible for a cat to pee on himself? Who knows. I wouldn't put anything past the beast. Also each morning when I pick him up to cuddle him, I bury my nose into his fur and smell...celery. Usually in the mornings he reeks of pungent celery, and then by evening he just smells like garbage. So we decided to put an end to it so that we'll have a fluffy, tropical-fruit-smelling little child in our bed tonight, instead of one with questionable fur and odors.

ps I've given up on daily quotes again.

Falling

I think my body is very confused right now per the time change, and it has been rebelling by a.) demanding more coffee and sugar than usual, b.) not recognizing the passing of time. Basically the days have been looooong and I've been fighting the urge to poison my bloodstream with all the things I love in unhealthy doses. This is when it helps that at least I know I'm safe when I get home, because Nolan is hellbent on us eating healthy, and I know it's good for us, but SIGH it's just so hard when all the bad stuff is SO GOOD. Nonetheless, I have to repeatedly tell myself that I WILL appreciate this when I'm 80 and possibly able to take him at armwrestling from our wheelchairs.

The countdown to Mexico for Christmas this year has begun! We're a little over 6 weeks away, and I've already planned what I'm packing. I'm THAT. EXCITED. In fact, I mostly just left all of my travel stuff (minus clothes) from Europe in my suitcase, and stuffed it out of the way for a few weeks.

I think Fall set in a month or so ago in my mind, but now with the holidays, it feels like I haven't even been able to enjoy it! I have had 2 Pumpkin Spice Lattes, stepped on maybe a handful of crunchy leaves, and worn a scarf once (while in the US). What is going on! It's been hot here, and IT JUST ISN'T RIGHT.

However, my private onslaught of Christmas music, crocheting, spiced cider, and secret present-buying has made me feel a little bit better about the rapid passage of time. Milo's already anticipating dusting off his Santa suit from last year, I can see it in his eyes.

Potter-een

Fortunately, I averted disaster this Halloween by NOT dressing up as a child vampire (there were WAY cooler ones everywhere I looked!), and instead found a better idea. While standing in the shower before getting into costume, I was wishing my hair was better behaved, because I just wanted to not do anything to it before the party. Fortunately, there is a beloved book-character of mine who has frizzy brown hair that also looks pretty wretched. Behold Hermione Granger:

But keep in mind that it looked better from a distance, because for some reason Nolan only took pictures from my waist up? I tried to convince him to go as Harry Potter (we have a messy brown wig, even!), but he said he would prefer to be white trash...which ended up looking pretty trashy, but not in the best way. As soon as we arrived, he leaned over and whispered "Man. Harry Potter would have been WAY better!" Maybe I am always right!

The after-effects of Halloween this year are that now I'm fully immersed in the holiday season. All day I have been Christmas shopping, planning decorations for my desk, eating Almond Joys and listening to Bing Crosby's Christmas songs. Oh Bing. I adore you. Nolan imposed a strict law this year banning me from listening to Christmas music out loud until after Thanksgiving, but as long as I have my headphones on, nobody knows ;)